


Soulswitch

by BlueRaith



Series: Sanvers AU Collection [4]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex sticks up for Maggie against her aunt, Bodyswap, F/F, Religion Content Warning, Soulmates AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-21 05:19:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13733976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueRaith/pseuds/BlueRaith
Summary: Soulmates switch bodies in the event of extreme emotional distress. When Maggie is kicked out of her house, she ticks all the boxes to trigger a switch. Switches happen both to give a break to a person's suffering, and to allow their soulmate a chance to try and make their life a little better. Alex has her work cut out for her.





	1. One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, there's a religion content warning. If only because I know how exhausting this family issue is. But homophobia IS an issue in Maggie's family, and there's no ignoring that. Not all homophobia is caused by religion of course, but the odds of Maggie's family not being religious is slim. The first half is all Maggie and the Danvers, and the second is Alex's showdown with Maggie's aunt.
> 
> To make the rules of this universe a little clearer because this was a bit hard to set up:  
> 1\. You switch bodies with your soulmate during periods of extreme emotional distress.
> 
> 2\. You will not remember these switches until you either switch again—and you temporarily remember the switches that came before—or you permanently remember when you meet your soulmate face to face.
> 
> 3\. Your family and friends are unable to explicitly tell you anything about your soulmate. Which means that Maggie's aunt's threat is more hollow than it sounds.
> 
> 4\. Switches end when both the emotional distress is soothed, and the trigger for the distress is addressed.

Maggie tries to fall asleep on her aunt’s pull out couch in tears. She’d bottled it up as best she could before now. What was the point? Her aunt barely looked at her, and the last thing Maggie wanted was to be asked what she was so upset about. Because apparently this was all  _ Maggie’s  _ fault. For being what she was. For being  _ shameful. _

And now she was probably never going to see her parents again. Not how she remembered them. Not how they’d been just  _ yesterday. _

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the torrent of tears, but Maggie wasn’t at all confident.

And when she opened them again, she wasn’t in her aunt’s living room.

No, she was in a much larger, brighter room, in a twin bed, and was apparently wearing pajamas with science beakers and test tubes on them.

Maggie blinked.

She was in her soulmate’s body.

This wasn’t something unheard of. Apparently it happened to people and their soulmates when one or the other was going through a hard time.

Maggie’s life probably fit the dictionary definition right now.

But that still didn’t mean she was really happy about it. She was in a stranger’s body, in a stranger’s bed, and in a stranger’s  _ house.  _ What was she supposed to do? Just turn out the bedside lamp and go to sleep?

Before Maggie could do much else besides marvel at the joke her life was turning into, the door to the room opened. Another girl walked in and gave Maggie a haughty glare and sniff.

“Bathroom’s open,” she said with an eye roll.

Okay. Maggie would bet ten bucks that this was her soulmate’s sister.

“Uh… thanks.”

The other girl stopped in her tracks and gave Maggie an odd look. It was actually a mix of guarded and hopeful. As if she couldn’t believe Maggie had actually  _ thanked her  _ for something.

“Oh. Um. You’re welcome.”

She got into her bed and turned her back to Maggie without another word.

This was…  _ weird  _ to say the least. Maggie wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to expect when body swapping with another person in an unknown location, but she’d bet it wasn’t supposed to be exactly like… this.

Sitting in bed like an idiot probably wasn’t going to keep her cover. Maggie wasn’t entirely sure if she was supposed to keep this a secret. Did people know about the body switching beyond the soulmates? Her parents had never talked about it much. They weren’t each other’s soulmates, and the topic didn’t come up often in their home.

When she found her way to the bathroom—thankfully the other girl had let the light on before leaving—Maggie took a peek at the mirror. She already knew her soulmate was a girl. That much was obvious.

She just didn’t expect her soulmate to be so…  _ pretty. _

Certainly prettier than Eliza Wilkie.

_ And her soulmate probably wouldn’t rat Maggie out and ruin her life. _

Maggie shuddered at the thought. She felt… so  _ betrayed.  _ And alone. Shameful, when she knew she shouldn’t, and then guilt because of the shame. Everyone she thought had cared about her just… dumped her like trash.

The tears came again, and Maggie wrapped her arms around herself, squeezing as hard as she could. Part of her was hoping she could keep the feelings inside herself if she gripped hard enough. Crying in her soulmate’s body was probably not the best move.

It took a few minutes, and several deep breaths, before Maggie felt like she could at least  _ act  _ like she was normal. She really wasn’t certain what she should be doing in here. Going to the bathroom?

_ Hard pass. _

The thought alone made Maggie feel both like blushing and like she wanted to die on the spot. What was her soulmate doing in  _ her  _ body? This had the potential to be  _ mortifying. _

Maggie did the only thing she could bear at the moment, and cleaned her face of any lingering tears. Her eyes were still red and swollen, but there was nothing to be done about that. Hopefully she could sneak back into what she assumed was her soulmate’s bedroom and go to sleep. Maybe she’d be back in her own body, and her own life, tomorrow.

Of course,  _ absolutely nothing  _ was going right in Maggie’s life at the moment.

She ended up stepping out of the bathroom and right into an older woman.

“Alex! I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were—have you been crying?”

This was  _ literally the worst thing ever. _

“No!” Maggie  _ meant  _ for the word to come out forcefully, but in her soulmate’s voice it was a  _ squeak.  _ An adorable squeak that Maggie would have adored in just about any other situation than the one she was in. But Maggie Rodas didn’t  _ squeak. _

The woman—and just by the look she was giving Maggie she deduced this  _ had  _ to be her soulmate’s mother—just gave Maggie this… this  _ look.  _ One that seemed to see right through her.

One she used to receive from her own mother.

Maggie could feel her bottom lip trembling like a  _ traitor,  _ and she bit down on it as hard as she could. She glared at the wall beside them, absently taking note of all the family pictures and photos of a much younger auburn haired… Alex apparently. The blonde girl was also there, but curiously didn’t have any childhood pictures. It was as though she popped into existence one day. Maybe she’d been dumped by somebody too.

Alex’s mother placed a hand on her shoulder. “Sweetie, what’s the matter?”

It almost felt like someone was slapping her in the face. The last Maggie had seen of  _ her  _ mother was a silent, unwavering stare as her father took her to their car. She hadn’t even bothered to say anything.

And here was someone Maggie would have  _ loved  _ to have in her corner only a few hours ago. Someone who  _ cared.  _ Even if that care was for a complete stranger who  _ wasn’t  _ Maggie.

A wave of bitterness and resentment swept over her. Why couldn’t she have this? Why’d they have to abandon her? Why wasn’t she good enough?

“Don’t touch me!” Maggie snarled out. She pulled away from the woman—whose eyes had widened in surprise—and stumbled back into the bathroom.

She slammed the door and slid down it to the floor. What was she supposed to do? Maggie couldn’t handle this. She just wanted to get back to her lumpy couch and cry herself to sleep. Alone. With no one to bother her.

If only she was that lucky.

It was quiet for a moment. Maggie  _ thought  _ she was finally going to be left alone. That the woman just left her here to fend for herself, just like everyone else had.

Of course, she was wrong.

Maggie could hear her and what sounded like a man’s voice outside the bathroom. She wasn’t sure if this counted as eavesdropping—especially considering they were probably talking about  _ her— _ but Maggie couldn’t help it all the same. The door wasn’t very thick.

“I don’t think that’s Alex,” the woman was saying. “Alex would have gone to you if she was that upset. Not lock herself in the bathroom.”

Great. So they knew that Maggie was some strange kid having an emotional breakdown in their bathroom. Terrific.

“This is a little young for a switch,” the man said quietly. It was almost inaudible.

“We can’t leave them in there,” the woman responded, and if Maggie didn’t know any better, she almost seemed  _ sad. _

Why not leave Maggie here? Everyone else has, and she might as well get used to this. It wasn’t as though Maggie was going to remember these apparently kind people who actually seemed to care that she was upset. She was going to switch back to her life where she was now  _ alone  _ and she was going to have to deal with it all on her own.

Maggie didn’t even want to drag this out.

“Sweetie?” The woman’s voice was at the door. “Can you open the door? So we can talk?”

That was the absolute  _ last  _ thing Maggie wanted to do. Honestly, she wondered what the point of all this was. Her soulmate apparently had amazing parents, and Maggie’s were the exact opposite. This Alex was clearly loved, and Maggie was  _ shameful. _

It was as though the universe was trying to rub how  _ terrible  _ her life was in her face.

“Go away,” Maggie sniffed out.

And that was just  _ worse.  _ She didn’t want to cry in front of these strangers. They probably thought she was pathetic.

“We can’t do that,” the man said. “If you want to be left alone after you come out of the bathroom, that’s fine. But there are a lot of things in that room that can be used to hurt yourself.”

She was silent for a moment, the thought never having actually crossed her mind. Not only was she not in her own body and didn’t know how hurting herself here would actually work, but Maggie just… never had the idea occur to her. She was upset, she was angry, she felt horribly  _ alone,  _ but she also felt the need to just keep… going. She wanted to be left alone, she wanted to get out of high school move far away, and never talk to anyone from her family ever again.

But… Maggie could get where these people were coming from. She was probably freaking them out.

With a sigh, she stood up and unlocked the door. Maggie refused to look at anything besides the paint of the door jam when it opened.

It was white and so perfectly applied that it didn’t even seem painted on. Her soulmate just seemed to have the perfect life, didn’t she?

“Thank you,” the man said when she stayed silent. “Why don’t you come sit in the kitchen. Eliza makes some pretty good hot chocolate, and we’ll leave you alone if that’s what you want.”

Maggie shrugged. None of it really mattered to her. She was probably lucky these people were kind enough to think about her at all. It was more than she was getting at… home.

Whatever home meant now, anyway.

Almost silently, Maggie followed the man and Eliza—and she tried her best not to react to the woman’s name; what were the odds that she’d end up meeting someone with the  _ same name  _ as the person who’d betrayed her today. The universe hated Maggie. That was the only explanation.

They thankfully weren’t staring at her, but Maggie still felt like she was center of attention in some kind of nightmarish scenario. It was obvious that this family was well off. Her soulmate’s parents led her downstairs, and what she could glimpse from the living room was that this family clearly had more than Maggie has ever been used to.

She hopped up on the nearest stool and tried her best to stare a hole in the surface. While her soulmate’s parents weren’t talking about her, Maggie had the strangest feeling that they were still having a conversation about her regardless. They were  _ those  _ soulmates. The sort that could talk with their eyes. Maggie would roll her eyes, but that would mean looking at anything else besides this table. She didn’t want to talk, or open up, or give away what was wrong with her. She didn’t owe these people anything. They probably only cared because she was stuck in their  _ real  _ kid’s body.

They moved about the kitchen, and eventually a hot mug was placed in front of Maggie. The adults sat on stools across from her and Maggie couldn’t hold back her glare.

The man held his hands up. “We will leave you alone, if that’s what you want, but first we need to know if you’re safe. Your body, at least.”

Maggie looked directly at him for the first time. He was a nice looking man, she guessed, and he was apparently where Alex got her darker features from. Then again, it wasn’t like she could just trust these people on looks alone. After all, she’d  _ thought  _ her parents had loved her, but apparently that was a huge  _ lie,  _ and there’d been nothing to warn her of what would happen when she stuck that stupid note in Eliza Wilkie’s locker.

“Why?” She asked him warily. “It’s not like you can do anything. I won’t remember this, and you can’t actually say anything about it.”

“We can’t talk to you directly. Or Alex. But we  _ can  _ do some minor interference if you’re in any danger,” Eliza said with a sad smile.

This was just unbelievable. Who were these people, and how did they exist in real life? Maggie didn’t want their kindness. She wondered if it was more like  _ pity. _

“Why?” She demanded accusingly. “Why do you even care? It’s not going to matter after this. I don’t even get the  _ point  _ of switching bodies. And don’t give me that dumb crap about ‘walking a mile in someone else’s shoes.’ I know my soulmate’s life is way better than mine, thanks. Didn’t even  _ need  _ to switch to know that’s pretty likely.”

The adults traded glances with each other. Maggie didn’t like it. It felt as though they were talking about her. Which they were. And leaving her out of the loop.

“You might not remember the specifics—not until you and Alex meet face to face—but part of you will remember what this  _ feels  _ like,” Alex’s father told her.

“So I’m going to go home, remember what it  _ feels  _ like to know complete strangers ‘allegedly’ care about me, and then have to live with that while knowing my own parents kicked me out of the house,” Maggie’s eyes widened, realizing that her mouth and emotions had outran her.

She crossed her arms in front of her and went back to glaring at the table.

The adults didn’t say anything for a moment, and Maggie half hoped that meant she’d managed to keep them from talking to her. The other half wasn’t surprised. If her own parents hadn’t wanted her anymore, she was probably a huge disappointment as a soulmate for these people’s daughter. Who’d want a broken person for their kid?

“Do you have somewhere to go, sweetie?” Eliza asked.

Maggie flinched at the term of endearment. She’d never been called ‘sweetie’ but it felt like something completely hollow right now.

“My aunt’s letting me live with her,” she muttered.

She was shocked when they actually let out sighs of  _ relief.  _ Who were these people, and where did they learn how to be sitcom parents? Who actually acted like this in real life?

“We’re glad you have somewhere to stay. Will she treat you right?” Eliza asked.

Maggie shrugged. “She said she’d feed me and make sure I get to school. Guess that’s good enough until I go to college.”

“I’m sorry,” Eliza said, and the thing was, Maggie could  _ hear  _ that she meant it.

It was what made her finally snap.

_ “Why?”  _ Maggie exclaimed. “I don’t get you guys at all. None of this affects you, Alex might not ever meet me, and I’m clearly not your number one choice of soulmate for her anyway.”

Alex’s father gave her a puzzled look. “We don’t know anything about you. Except that you’re going through an extraordinarily hard time right now.”

She huffed and rubbed her face. “I’m also being pretty rude right now too. And… I’m sorry about that. And kind of not sorry too. I just… this is a lot to deal with.”

“We understand,” Eliza told her with a small smile. “This isn’t an easy experience, and never positive sadly. We’re not going to judge you for being upset.”

“We care about you because everyone deserves that,” Alex’s father said. “I don’t know why your parents kicked you out, and you don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to, but there’s  _ rarely  _ a good excuse for that.”

“I wasn’t what they wanted,” Maggie said, challenging him. She wasn’t going to out Alex. Maggie didn’t know Alex, but getting outed was the  _ worst thing ever.  _ And she wasn’t going to do the same to anyone else. “If I wasn’t enough for them, what makes you think I’m enough for,” she scoffed as she gestured around her, “your clearly perfect family.”

Eliza shook her head. “No one is perfect. We’re more fortunate than a lot of other families, but we aren’t going to judge you for coming from a harder home life than most people have. If your parents abandoned you because you are or did something they didn’t expect, then that’s  _ shameful.” _

Maggie went very still. Eliza’s words were too similar to what her father said. Except this time, they were directed towards  _ her parents. _

“You don’t even know what I did,” she said quietly.

“It doesn’t matter,” Alex’s father said. “I highly doubt you  _ ‘did’  _ anything. I know you’re trying to keep your life to yourself, and that’s fine, but there are only so many reasons for parents to kick their children out over not being ‘what they wanted.’”

“Great,” Maggie said as she cringed. “I probably gave away something about my soulmate that I shouldn’t have.”

“We  _ do  _ live with Alex everyday,” Eliza pointed out. “We’ve been waiting for her to come to us, and—of course—we can’t tell her about anything that’s happened tonight. You and Alex will never have to worry about not being what Jeremiah or I expected. Children rarely end up exactly like parents expected them to be, and most often than not, that is a good thing. You’re both allowed to be your own persons.”

Maggie let out a short laugh. “My soulmate got hallmark cards for parents. I just… no one’s ever talked to me like you guys have. Thank you, I guess. I mean, I’m not going to remember any of this and it’s all going to go back to normal, and I’m probably going to be miserable all over again tomorrow. But I appreciate what you’re trying to do.”

They didn’t even get mad that Maggie just called them hallmark cards. They  _ laughed about it.  _ Maggie was just astounded that people like this were actually out here in the world.

“Alex says we lay it on thick too,” Jeremiah chuckled. “And yes, you’re not going to remember what we’ve talked about. But, you’re hopefully going to switch back knowing that there  _ are  _ people who do care about you. We don’t know much about you, and we’re strangers to you, but if you’re Alex’s soulmate, then… you’re probably a wonderful person.”

“I hope we get to meet you one day,” Eliza told her. “It will get easier when you can go off to college, or even get a job and move out. Until then, if you get upset enough to switch with Alex we can do all this all over again. However many times as needed.”

“Yeah, and Alex will have to field all the awkward silences with my aunt. She’s not, like, going to hurt me or anything. She just… she doesn’t like what I am and she doesn’t hide it,” Maggie admitted.

“You can’t keep the switch from happening, it won’t be your fault. We all have powerful emotions, and for whatever reason that means we switch bodies with someone. We’ll be here for Alex too if she comes back and feels confused and hurt about anything. But Alex  _ has  _ been known to challenge authority figures. The school sends us emails sometimes about her ‘irreverent attitude.’ Do you know what that means, Lizzy?” Jeremiah turned to Eliza with a snort.

“That one was because Alex stood up to Kara’s English teacher over her accent,” Eliza reminded him. “And then I went up to the school to have some stern words with them.”

“That’s right. And Alex says she  _ doesn’t  _ like Kara.”

“Hmm. They just need time to get used to each other.”

Maggie had  _ no idea  _ what they were talking about. Adoption? Kara’s pictures hadn’t been on the walls from before she was around the age she apparently was now. Which had to be rough, coming to a completely new family and living with them.

Yeah, Maggie could  _ definitely  _ get that.

“I hope she can handle it. Alex doesn’t really deserve living my messed up life,” Maggie said as she sighed.

“You don’t either…. You don’t have to tell us your name, but I’d like to hear it if you want,” Jeremiah smiled at Maggie, and it was an easy sort of grin. Like he was that one dad who everyone liked because he was cool with everything.

Maggie squinted at them guardedly. “You won’t care I’m not… you know… what’s probably  _ normal?  _ That Alex isn’t what’s normal?”

“Sweetie,” Eliza snorted softly, “believe me when I say we’re hardly living a ‘normal’ life. Homophobia has never made much sense to us. Not when our soulmates are apparently chosen for us by some sort of phenomenon we can’t control. Your parents are wrong about you. You’re valid, and you deserve to live a happy life.”

Great. Maggie was feeling the tears trying to come out again. These Lifetime movie people were getting to her, and a part of her envied Alex for what she got to live with everyday.

She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Maggie. My name’s Maggie.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Maggie,” Jeremiah grinned cheesily and stretched out his hand. Maggie shook it with a good natured eye roll. This guy was something else. “I’m sorry it had to be under such hard circumstances, but you’ll always have a place in our family.”

Family. Maggie lost hers in a day. She’d tried not to think about it much. A part of her hoped that her father would show up at any moment and tell her he was sorry and she could come back home.

But she knew how unlikely that was going to happen. Maggie wasn’t a stupid kid. Her father was  _ so stubborn,  _ and she knew that was something they had in common. But if she could meet this Alex, and she was half as kind, cheesy, and caring as these people in front of her…. Well, Maggie was probably coming out as a winner in the soulmate chase.

They spoke about anything and nothing for the rest of the night. Maggie wasn’t yet comfortable to tell Alex’s parents  _ everything  _ about her life, but they seemed fine with that and were content to talk about anything Maggie wanted. She had the feeling she would be leaving once she went to bed tonight, and a part of her was sad to leave. This was Alex’s life, but Maggie knew she’d probably be the luckiest person on earth if she got to be at least a small part of it someday.

***

Alex blinked open her eyes and realized she definitely  _ wasn’t  _ still waiting for her obnoxious pet alien to get out of the bathroom.

No, she was on the lumpiest pull out couch she’d ever had the displeasure of lying on. Apparently she was in a living room, if the couch and TV were any signs. It was a small room and the furniture within it was all much older than anything she’s ever seen and a little rough around the edges.

This wasn’t her house. And this wasn’t her body.

When Alex glanced down, she was half terrified and half grossed out with the fear that she would find herself in a boy’s body and all the challenges that would have faced her with it.

But she was in a  _ girl’s  _ body.

She hesitantly placed her hands on this body’s chest for only a split  _ second  _ before pulling them away as if burned. What the hell was she doing? This wasn’t  _ her  _ body. Oh man, Alex was being a pervert…. Boys at school had always joked that they couldn’t wait to go through a switch so they could  _ explore.  _ It had always disgusted Alex, and she hadn’t ever understood the appeal of possessing a boy’s body for any given moment. Especially since it would mean that she or her soulmate were going through something horrible in their lives.

Her soulmate was a  _ girl.  _ Alex didn’t know what that meant. Was she gay? Would she remember that she was gay after this? Would her parents care? What if she wasn’t gay? Weren’t there other things she could be? Alex found all of this confusing. She’s prefer to just not think about it all for the moment.

Instead her thoughts went to her soulmate… the  _ person.  _ Alex’s life was going pretty well. Aside from the whole ‘alien from another planet invading her bedroom and stealing the bathroom every night with her dumb superspeed powers’ problem she’s been having. It was upsetting, but Alex certainly didn’t think it was world shattering. Much.

Which meant that her soulmate was the one feeling horrible right now.

Alex was curious enough to find out what was going on. It didn’t seem like there was much movement in the small house. She could actually hear someone coughing in another room. The walls were apparently much thinner than she was used to in her house. Alex got up from the pull out, there was no way she was going to be sleeping on this thing any time soon.

The kitchen was just off the living room, something similar to Alex’s home, and it was also smaller than what she was used to. Many of the appliances were practically  _ ancient.  _ Which, not that Alex was going to judge her soulmate over, but it was obvious they came from different circumstances. She wondered who this girl was. What was she like? What was her family like? Alex was going to be meeting them long before she met her soulmate. And sure, she wouldn’t remember them until she actually met her soulmate, but a part of her would. That was what her parents had told Alex, at least.

She stepped on a loose floorboard in the kitchen. It let out the  _ loudest  _ creak Alex had ever heard in her life. Whew, movies apparently weren’t making that up at all.

“Margarita!” A voice called out. “Go to sleep! You’ve done enough for today.”

Alex couldn’t help but flinch at the harsh tone. Was this what her soulmate lived with everyday? Because Alex could definitely understand wanting to get away from it, for a little while at least. She felt a little indignant on her soulmate’s behalf. What if she was just going to the bathroom? What was she supposed to do? Hold it because it wasn’t  _ convenient  _ for this woman?

So she ignored them and searched the cabinets for a glass. Probably being louder in closing the cabinets and turning the faucet on than she needed to be, but Alex didn’t particularly care.

There was no missing the irritated huff and footsteps that came her way from down the hallway. “Maggie! I’m letting you live here after this stunt you’ve pulled. You better not be ignoring me.”

She rounded the corner and took in the way Alex glared at her as she downed the glass of water.

“I didn’t know drinking water was a crime,” she snarked. “You know women are made up of 55% of water? Most people think it’s some ridiculous percentage, like 80 or something, but it’s not. Men are made up of 65% of water. Still, that’s a lot. So I’ll probably have to pee later too. Unless that’s going to be a ‘stunt’ to you too.”

The woman narrowed her eyes at Alex. “You’re not Maggie.”

“Nope,” Alex answered, popping the ‘p.’ “What gave it away?”

The woman rolled her eyes. She pulled out a chair at the table and gestured for Alex to take the other one. Alex would have liked to continue antagonizing  this woman, she was  _ probably  _ part of the reason why Maggie had caused a switch. But she also wanted to speak with her. If only to learn why she was here. So she pulled out the other chair and sat, arms crossed and slouching in her chair.

Alex got a  _ tiny  _ bit of satisfaction from the way the woman eyed her posture distastefully.

“What’s your name?” The woman asked.

“Alex. What’s your name?”

“Maria. So, this was all some sort of call for attention after all,” Maria scoffed to herself.

“What do you mean?”

“Maggie’s going through a  _ stage  _ right now. She thinks she likes girls, but you’re a boy. I’ll have to call Oscar and tell him he can come pick Maggie up.”

Alex could feel her face heating up. “My name is short for  _ Alexandra.  _ Apparently Maggie’s not going through a ‘stage.’ I’d say I was sorry to disappoint you… but you kinda seem like a terrible person.”

Maria’s eyes flashed. “I’m taking my niece in after she shamed our whole family with her sin. She, of course, deserves a place to live and to go to school, but she’s making a terrible mistake.”

“That’s like… the most  _ basic  _ thing you can do for her!” Alex exclaimed.  _ “Everyone  _ deserves that. That’s like saying you’re a good person for not killing somebody. Congratulations for not being complete monster, I guess.”

“You are in no position to judge me. Not after corrupting my niece,” Maria scoffed.

“That’s not how it works,” Alex said with a scoff.  _ “First  _ of all, I didn’t even know I liked girls until I woke up in this body. I just never thought about it. Second, no one picks their soulmate. That’s literally the first fact everyone teaches you about them, so I know you’re just being stubborn about this.”

“Your parents haven’t taught you anything about respect. You’re in my house after I’ve uprooted my life to take in a child who doesn’t know a single thing about how hard the world is going to be for her to make the decisions she’s choosing, and you think  _ you  _ can lecture me,” Maria said.

Alex took in a deep breath. Yeah, she could  _ definitely  _ see why Maggie had switched. This was horrible already, and she didn’t even know this woman.

“My parents taught me to stick up for myself and for people who are being mistreated. Which is what you’re doing. Maggie didn’t deserve to get kicked out of her house for something  _ she can’t help.  _ My parents are literally two of the top scientists in the country. I mean, they’ve taught me about how being gay isn’t just some  _ choice  _ we make. I can’t respect people who’d rather mistreat a teenager over who she’ll end up loving. The universe pretty much picks out our soulmates for us. What was Maggie supposed to do? Ignore it and marry some guy she’s never going to love and have fourteen kids?”

Maggie’s aunt glared at her. “Yes. That’s exactly what she’s supposed to do. God chose to give her this trial, and she’s going to have to resist this temptation.”

“Oh,  _ wow,  _ that’s bad,” Alex half laughed. “My family isn’t religious. We don’t really care about what people believe in, I mean some people find a lot of meaning and stuff in religion, I guess. But that part, right there, sounds  _ really  _ stupid. Maggie’s just supposed to grow up utterly miserable so some otherworldly being,  _ who’s not living her life,  _ is happy.”

“I might just tell her that her soulmate came to visit me. And that he’s a very respectful young man who believes in God,” Maria told her with a scowl.

She blinked at Maria. Part of Alex couldn’t believe what she was dealing with. She was a kid trying to convince an adult that her beliefs were wrong. Which, was probably never going to happen, but Maggie was going to have to live with this  _ everyday.  _ Alex didn’t know what this Maggie was like, but she did hope Maggie was strong enough to deal with this on her own.

“That’s probably the cruelest thing I’ve ever heard anyone say to me,” Alex admitted as honestly as she could. “Why even talk to me, if you’re just going to lie about who and what I am later?”

Maria sighed. “I’m not being cruel. I’m trying to give Maggie a much better life than the one she’ll try to live if I  _ don’t  _ interfere. And I can’t just ignore you’re here. Most switches won’t be satisfied until we’ve actually spoken with each other.”

“This isn’t the 50s!” Alex protested. “We can live normal lives. And be  _ happy.  _ Not miserably trying to be something we’re not. Look, I’m 14, I’m probably not going to change your mind about any of this horrible stuff. But Maggie and I are  _ soulmates.  _ You’re not going to be able to pretend that Maggie  _ isn’t  _ gay. That’s like… being purposely ignorant. You don’t have to agree with Maggie being gay. I don’t really understand what there is to  _ disagree  _ with, but don’t you want her to be happy? Don’t you care about her at all?”

“Of course I care about her! I wouldn’t have let her live with me if I didn’t. She’d be on the streets if it wasn’t for me,” Maria protested.

“Great! You’re doing anything any decent person would. My parents took in a 13 year old orphan who’s not even related to us. You’re not gonna impress me by  _ not  _ letting your own niece live in a gutter,” Alex rolled her eyes. “Maybe the switch happened so I can tell you to lay off with all this dumb ‘stage’ stuff. Maggie’s not going to change because you want her to. Mostly because she  _ can’t  _ just change. All of that curing gay people stuff is a myth, you know. I know you probably won’t just take my word for it, so why not just look this stuff up? And  _ not  _ just from whatever church you’re part of. What’s it going to hurt besides making Maggie a little less miserable and keeping  _ me  _ out of your house? I mean, I know don’t like me. That’s pretty obvious.”

“God has said all he needs to about homosexuality,” Maria said, but Alex could tell she was getting a little defensive. Her arms were crossed and she wasn’t staring down Alex any more.

“No one knows where soulmates come from,” Alex pointed out. “What if he sent me here?”

“You don’t believe in God.”

“I believe in science,” Alex admitted. “I like to see things I can touch and measure. But, from what little I know about religion, God’s never been really picky about who he uses to spread his… message or whatever. I could have been sent by him to tell you to chill out and relax a little bit. You know, stop treating Maggie like she’s gone off and murdered somebody. Treat her like an actual person, with feelings. Because the way you talked to me when I first showed up? Wow. I’ve never had someone act that way towards me. Maggie’s not some pet you’ve brought into your house and got mud all over the carpets. She’s a person, with feelings, and all that. Treat her that way, or I’m gonna come back, remember the last time I was here, and I’m probably gonna start smashing whatever I can in this kitchen. Give you… penance or whatever for not being very godly. I’ll be the most atheistic guardian angel ever.”

She glared at Maria for good measure. Alex knew she was being a brat, but she couldn’t find it in her to care.

“You’re threatening to… smash my dishes if I don’t condone Maggie’s sexuality,” Maria asked slowly. As if she couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Yep.”

“Unbelievable. I wasn’t nearly this disrespectful to  _ my  _ soulmate’s parents.”

“Did you ever meet him?” Alex asked curiously. “I mean, I’m just wondering because I can’t believe someone who’s actually met their soulmate would act like this. My parents are soulmates.”

Maria took in a deep breath. “I did. And then he died. Before we could have our own children. The time I had with him was the most happiest I’ve ever been.”

“And you’d keep Maggie from that? Assuming she meets me, I mean. You’d just lie to her about me, keep her looking hopelessly for something she won’t even be  _ able  _ to love, all because you can’t understand it?”

“It’s not up to me to understand. I know what I believe about homosexuality. I know what the church has taught us. I believe in the afterlife, and I care about whether or not Maggie goes to hell. I’m trying to protect her. Being  _ nice  _ to her isn’t going to change anything.”

Alex groaned and placed her head on the table. “Yeah, because there’s nothing  _ to change.  _ Man. You’re like, the most stubborn person I’ve ever talked to. How do you  _ know  _ Maggie’s going to hell? It’s like… one passage in the bible, right? It’s not one of your commandments or anything. It’s  _ barely  _ in the the later stuff with Jesus and all that. Look. I’m not trying to change your mind about anything in one night. That’s… clearly not going to happen. I won’t be able to remember any of this. Not unless this switch happens again, and  _ only  _ then. But you will.”

“And what it is that you’d like me to do? Study your science and give up my religion?” Maria snorted.

“Okay, science is for everyone. I mean, it’s just explaining how the world around us works…. But whatever. No, I don’t want you to just give up everything you believe in. It doesn’t have to be an either or thing. I just want you to treat Maggie right. That’s it. Lay off on all the homosexuality stuff. Let her get through high school without having us switching bodies all the time. I don’t know anything about her besides the fact that she comes from a pretty crappy family, but I want her to be  _ happy.  _ Everyone deserves that.”

It was quiet for a moment as Maria looked her up and down. Alex wondered if this was weird for her. To look at her niece, but know that she wasn’t talking to Maggie at all. Just some stranger from California who apparently came from a completely different world than she did.

“If she’s going to be living with me, she’s going to church,” Maria told her. “That’s non-negotiable. Perhaps she can find her way back from this through service. You’re right. I don’t want you back in my house if I can help it.”

“Trust me, I don’t really like it here. And like I said, if I  _ do  _ come back, and it’s because of Maggie again, I’m gonna be  _ horrible.  _ Like, you have no idea. I’ll get creative. Everyone has a plethora of cleaning supplies in their house. I’m  _ really  _ good at chemistry. I hope you’re not too attached to your clothes.”

Maria huffed, but didn’t say anything more. Now that they’d come to an agreement, apparently they had nothing more to say to one another. Which was fine with Alex. She was  _ completely  _ over this. Hopefully she’d succeeded in making Maggie’s life at least a little more bearable. At least until Maggie could get out of here and live her own life away from these people.

Because Alex  _ really  _ didn’t want to come back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. So, if I had the time, this fic would be much longer. People would go through character development. In some cases, negatively. Such as the case with Eliza to make her and Alex's issues from canon happen. Nothing too extreme, because I don't believe Eliza was flat out abusive, but grief, stress over single parenthood, and taking care of a superpowered alien and making sure the government doesn't drag you and your adopted daughter off and leave your oldest daughter alone probably wasn't all that great for Eliza's mental well being. Doesn't give her a pass over how she treated Alex, but it sure as hell doesn't make her a monster either.
> 
> And a *little* positive development in the case of Maggie's aunt. I mean, the aunt didn't show up for the shower. And Maggie doesn't ever speak positively about her. She's neutral AT BEST. But, I do believe there is a reason Maggie didn't turn out completely messed up over this. She's a very strong person, but she was a kid when this happened. Religion is a hell of a force against LGBT people if authority figures choose to abuse it. I don't think that happened. And I wondered why, so here we are. My inspiration for Alex's and Maria's argument comes from real life, so I tried to make it both as realistic as I could without going into complete trigger territory. I hope I succeeded in that, but I will certainly understand those of you who didn't want to or couldn't read it. I know writing it made me feel exasperated and tired, which is what I was going for.
> 
> At any rate, Alex would have eventually had to switch for Jeremiah's death and Maria would have had to step up and be a decent person to send her back. So... that would actually be an interesting challenge to write. Maggie would have had to field a grieving, emotionally distant, and overbearing Eliza to get her to back off Alex a bit. Family drama is my drug of choice, and I might have to return to this one day.
> 
> (And no lie, I did want to take on the challenge of a Body Swap AU and make it as serious and angsty as I possibly could. Silly, crack body swaps are fun, but part of this compilation 'week' is to try different things and see what happens. If I ever do just a plain body swap, it'd be right after 2x06 when Maggie rejects Alex.)


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremiah's 'death' has left the Danvers women reeling. The Sawyers have no choice but to lay on some tough love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a hot minute, hasn't it. *Looks at fic publish date.* Hmm... nine months, huh. Let's just... ignore that. Uh, but yeah, be warned that absolutely nothing about this fic (including the first chapter) is edited because I already hate editing as it is, and there was one and a half sessions of drunk writing to get through this update. (Frankly, very little of my works are ever edited. I'd have to get a beta for it to happen on the regular and unless anyone knows of a saintly beta willing to put up with the most sporadic and impulsive author to ever walk the earth.... Just imagine it. A good 60% of my updates go live at 5 AM my time.) At any rate, here's a long ass update to make up for the wait.

Maggie’s life had been going… better. Not that she was really complaining, but she just didn’t know _why._ When she’d first been dumped onto her aunt’s porch with barely a suitcase left of her old life with her parents, Maria had been… less than supportive to say the least.

And now, instead of constantly glaring at Maggie and reminding her that she was ‘making a huge mistake,’ and lecturing her over religion—Maggie tuned these out as a matter of principle—Maria was looking at her almost thoughtfully and was more prone to leaving Maggie to her own devices.

Sure, she still had to go to church and everything, but Maggie would take what she could get at this point. She was just dying to know what had changed. It was almost over night. As though she had gone to bed on that lumpy pull out and woken up in an entirely different reality. It was weird as all get out.

Again, Maggie wasn’t _complaining_ per se, lest the universe think she’s ungrateful for this bizarre stroke of fortune. She couldn’t help but spend a few minutes every now in then as the next few months passed wondering what had changed. Because it definitely hadn’t been Maggie. Maria still wouldn’t be what Maggie considered a supportive parental figure, but she was far and away from the ‘fire-and-brimstone’ preacher she’d started off as.

She never imagined she’d get her answer one random Thursday while she was doing homework.

It took only one blink. Maggie _literally_ shut her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, she was in a very familiar house looking at a very familiar person. It was disorienting, and Maggie had to think for a moment over what the _hell_ was going on, but then it hit her like a sack of bricks.

Her soulmate. _Alex._ This wasn’t her first switch… she’d been here and met this woman before. Which meant that Alex _must_ have unleashed such a ferocious defense of… of _Maggie_ that her aunt seemingly completely rewrote her entire strategy for dealing with Maggie over the course of a single night.

If that wasn’t impressive, Maggie didn’t know what in this world would be.

But… if Maggie’s life was going about as well as it could feasibly could…. That meant Alex’s was not.

“Alexandra! Are you even _listening_ to me?”

Maggie flinched back into her current surroundings. And body. She didn’t know if there was _ever_ getting used to inhabiting someone else’s _body._ Soulmate or not. But that wasn’t her main concern. The last time she’d met Eliza, she’d been nicer than anyone Maggie had met in her entire life. Alex’s parents put the saints themselves to shame.

This wasn’t the Eliza Danvers Maggie had met that horrible night, though. Eliza was glaring at Maggie, or who she _thought_ was Alex actually, with eyes that could cut glass. It almost made Maggie want to flinch under the pressure of it.

What the hell had happened? Alex far and away had the better life, family, and parents out of the two of them. Maggie had assumed that out of the two of them, _she’d_ be the one instigating the vast majority of Switches.

“Uh… I just got here?” Maggie said uncertainly. She had no idea what she’d just dropped into.

For a moment, Eliza’s face hardened into something that made her nearly unrecognizable. It was alarming, and Maggie felt herself shiver. It was a little _too_ similar to the way her father’s face had twisted on that final day she’d seen him. The same expression that made it obvious that whoever Maggie had _thought_ the person giving it was… they’d changed in some significant way.

A sense of dread filled Maggie. She’d been here all of five seconds, but it was clear that something horrible and life changing occurred in Alex’s life.

There was one notable difference between Eliza and her father. Eliza seemed to take in Maggie’s shock and disorientation, and visibly reeled herself back in. More than that, she almost seemed… ashamed? Strangers could be hard to read, but there was no mistaking the way the woman seemed to just sag in exhaustion as all the previous anger she held melted right out of her.

“Maggie.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah…. So, I don’t really know _what_ Alex did or said to my aunt, but… my life has been going pretty well all things considered,” Maggie said carefully.

Which meant that Alex’s was not, and judging by what she’d just saw, this Switch was probably triggered by Eliza.

Eliza rubbed at the bridge of her nose. Maggie didn’t quite know what to do here. Not yet, at least. The woman she’d met on the night her entire life changed was so completely different to the one before her, that it almost felt like Maggie was in an entirely different universe rather than someone else’s body.

“I did this,” she said to herself, and let out a heavy breath.

“Hey, I don’t really want to rub anything in your face, but… what happened?” Maggie asked in complete confusion. “It kind of takes _a lot_ to trigger a Switch, I mean… I should know right?”

Eliza’s gaze snapped back to Maggie, as though she’d nearly forgotten she was there. “You’re wondering what’s gotten so bad that I caused my own daughter to literally switch bodies with someone else just to get away from me.”

There was a ton of self-loathing in her voice, and Maggie was again hit with the sinking feeling that something has gone terribly wrong since she was last here.

Well, at the very least, Alex still had parents with enough self-awareness to realize when they were being terrible. Maggie wasn’t going to let her off the hook for triggering the Switch in the first place, but at least she knew that she had something to work with. That she had a chance to help Alex in the same way she’d obviously been able to help Maggie.

“Pretty much,” Maggie answered. “You don’t look like you’re having the best time yourself.”

Eliza took in a stuttering breath. “Jeremiah. He….”

She swallowed, as if choking on the words, and that heavy feeling in Maggie’s gut turned to lead. The goofy man who’d helped her feel like she mattered at least a little bit in this world was gone, and she was never going to meet him as _Maggie._ Something she didn’t even realize how badly she’d been looking forward to until Eliza revealed it would forever be denied to her.

And if Maggie was mourning someone who was practically still a stranger to her, she couldn’t possibly imagine how Alex and her family was feeling. Sure, Maggie had, in a way, mourned for her own parents but there was a massive difference in mourning two terrible people she’d thought had been far better than they actually were, and mourning a _genuinely_ great person. One who didn’t even know what Maggie looked like. Spoke to exactly once. And welcomed Maggie so completely when she’d been nothing but rude to him and his wife.

“I… I’m sorry,” Maggie winced at her words. _Sorry?_ Yeah, that was helpful, great job Maggie. Eliza was clearly devastated by the loss of her husband and by all signs not reacting in a healthy way in the least. ‘Sorry’ was _definitely_ going to do the trick here….

She sighed. “Sor—I mean… you’ve probably heard that word to last you a lifetime.”

Maggie, ironically, couldn’t directly relate. No one said sorry to her when she’d been kicked out and lost everything.

Mostly because they all figured she deserved it.

But, Maggie could understand the thoughts behind it, and if she were in Eliza’s shoes, she’d probably get sick of it in a hot second. No one besides the rest of Eliza’s family could possibly understand what she’d lost and the depth of that pain. Hearing a stranger apologize for something they couldn’t change or relate to probably got old….

Then again, it wasn’t as though Eliza had been yelling at _Maggie_ when she’d gotten here. All of her ire had been directed at Alex. They _both_ had lost Jeremiah, they should both understand each others pain. If Eliza was lashing out at Alex….

Maggie had an idea of why she was here.

“It’s fine,” Eliza said, grimacing. “I know you’re… you’re just trying to help.”

“Is it fine?” Maggie asked, brows raised. “Look, I dropped into Alex’s body only catching that last bit. I don’t know what you said to her that got us Switched, but I know what I saw. And… it wasn’t pretty. Is it _possible_ that Alex Switched because you’re… taking out some emotions on her that she’s actually not responsible for?”

Eliza grit her teeth. “I was upset with Alex because she’s not keeping up with her responsibilities. We can’t afford drop everything, especially now that… that Jeremiah’s gone.”

So, it was going to be a little harder than Maggie thought to get them Switched back. Maggie had the striking feeling that the Danvers were a stubborn bunch, Hallmark card-ish or not.

“Okay, but… is it also possible that Alex might not be in the right mind to deal with whatever responsibilities she has because she’s fifteen and just lost her _father?_ I… it’s not the same, my parents are still alive. But… just knowing that I’ll never see them again? Knowing that the people I _thought_ I knew might as well be dead for as much as they actually exist? That’s hard to deal with. I spent a few days on my aunt’s couch just… trying to breathe, let alone think about homework or going to school or cleaning,” Maggie said.

Eliza’s tense posture eased the slightest bit. “That had to have been hard. Moving on from what your parents did to you took a lot of strength.” She sighed. “If we _only_ had to worry about going to school or homework then I could understand why Alex is acting the way she is.”

Only?

What else could a teenager be dealing with that was more complicated than school or sports or whatever? Maggie could get it if this was only about Eliza and Alex struggling in their grief to relate to each other. But, if that wasn’t the case, then what was Eliza so worked up about? Maggie felt like she was not only missing pieces from a puzzle, but also like some asshole threw handful of pieces from an entirely _different_ one just to mess with her.

“Well, how is she acting?” Maggie asked, if only to get more answers to whatever was happening. “People don’t really act like themselves in times like this.”

“We can’t _afford_ to act like anything else but normal!” Eliza insisted forcefully, almost a little manically. Maggie could see the stress she was exuding as if it were an actual tangible wave of energy.

Something about what Eliza said tickled the back of Maggie’s memory. It wasn’t adding up to something she had said the last time Maggie had found her way here. Maggie mulled over their last conversation carefully, trying to figure this out.

“Whatever happened to, ‘we’re hardly living a normal life,’” she asked as Eliza’s words came back to her.

That stopped Eliza short, she had started to pace, and it was only giving Maggie more signs that something wasn’t exactly… _normal_ with the Danvers.

“What? What are you talking about?” Eliza asked, more like demanded.

Maggie gave Eliza a long look. Whatever ‘responsibility’ Alex carried seemed a hell of a lot heavier than what an ordinary teenager would, or probably should, be carrying. Eliza and Jeremiah had already suspected that Alex was gay, so it wasn’t as though Eliza was going through some kind of homophobic need to project a particular ‘image’ to their community. Yet… she still wanted to seem normal.

“You want to hide something, and Alex isn’t helping,” Maggie deduced.

Silence filled the… bedroom? Maggie hadn’t even noticed their surroundings until now. Probably Alex’s bedroom. There was Xena poster on the wall. Yeah… Alex was gay alright. Eliza stared at her for several long moments, as if trying to figure out if she should be upset or just surprised that Maggie was reading her so well. Maggie wasn’t great at dealing with people on a one-on-one, personal basis. But she could read them pretty damn well, if she did say so herself.

Maggie continued, when Eliza didn’t say anything. “I am wondering just _what_ you’re trying to hide. It’s not that Alex is gay, is it? Because you and Jeremiah seemed fine with it when it was last here. And you said you couldn’t ‘afford’ to act like you weren’t normal, even if you already know that there is something that is as far from normal in you family as you can get, judging from when we last spoke. So, if it isn’t Alex or Jeremiah, and I’m guessing it’s not about you….”

She trailed off as she remembered the last member of the Danvers family. Maggie had only said one thing to her, and she and Alex didn’t seem to be on the best of terms when she was last here. Normally, Maggie could just pass that off as typical sisters getting into a fight… but the sister wasn’t _just_ an ordinary sister, was she? Her pictures hadn’t been on the hallway walls like Alex had been. At least, not from any age younger than about 13 or 14.

“It’s the other girl,” Maggie concluded. “Alex is older, isn’t she? Her ‘responsibility’ is… Kara, right?”

Eliza got paler the longer Maggie spoke.

“What I _don’t_ get is what you’d want to hide about Kara. She seems like a normal kid, but by the way you’re acting, it’s as though you’re expecting someone to bust down the door and kidnap you guys in the night,” Maggie snorted.

The silence in the room got even heavier, and went on for longer than Maggie had ever thought possible.

“Wait… is that you think is going to happen?” Maggie asked slowly.

Before Eliza could say anything, Alex’s room burst open.

Literally.

Not as in, the door opened loudly. Or suddenly. Or slammed into the wall on its hinges.

No, because all of that is something that could happen in real life, based on the laws of physics as Maggie has known them from her science classes.

Nope, the door _burst open._

Kara was _holding onto a wooden door after ripping it off its hinges._

Maggie gawked open mouthed at the sight. She couldn’t help it. How the hell was she _supposed_ to react to this.

“Alex! Did you take my—Oops…,” Kara’s explosive entrance was completely undermined as she sheepishly looked at the _entire door she held in one hand_ before placing said door against the wall gingerly, as if she hadn’t already ruined the thing in the first place.

Maggie blinked.

She half hoped that when she opened her eyes, this entire Switch was just and overactive dream on her part, and she’d find herself back at her aunt’s house.

But she had no such luck.

Eliza had turned away from them both, and seemed to be staring at the wall for several long moments. Maggie couldn’t imagine what was going through her mind. Obviously, Maggie was never meant to find out about Kara. Not that Maggie had _any_ logical explanations about this besides the fact that Kara was clearly different from most people.

She still wanted those answers, Eliza ignoring them or not. If only for her own sanity.

“So…,” Maggie said, drawing out the word. “What exactly are you supposed to be?”

Kara gave her a weird look, one that wasn’t quite as frigid as the one Maggie had gotten the first time she’d Switched with Alex, but apparently there was still some friction between Alex and Kara.

“I’m mad that you took _my_ laptop! Again!” Kara’s chest puffed up, but the effect was ruined by the pout she was also sporting.

Maggie shook her head. “No, I’m not Alex. I’m wondering if you’re some kind of mutant or if this is just an elaborate hallucination.”

That brought Kara up short. She seemed to not have clue on how to answer Maggie’s question. As if she didn’t know what to do with the information that the Alex in front of her wasn’t Alex at all.

“You’re really someone else?” Kara asked, wide eyed and filled with so much curiosity that it was strange. “What’s it like? Is it weird to be in someone else’s body? What do you do until you go back to your own? What’s your name? Does it just happen without warning, or do you get some kind of feeling that you’re about to be someone else? What happens if you just get _stuck_ in Alex’s body? Do you just live her life? Whoa, do people ever get stuck like this _forever?!”_

Why was she so awed by this? Everyone on Earth has heard of Switching. Most people would experience at least one in their lifetime, if not several. Kara should know most of the answers to her rapid fire questions.

Unless….

Flashes of Superman and other otherworldly beings flashed through Maggie’s mind. She’d never given the concept much thought. Blue Springs was so small and backwards, and no one there was ever concerned with what was happening outside of their own lives. So long as nothing _other_ invaded the town, they ignored anyone different from them or their hardships. Maggie was an _other,_ and so many people in that one-horse town were going out of their way to make her know that.

“Oh my god, you’re an _alien!”_ Maggie exclaimed.

 _That_ finally got Eliza’s attention. She turned around so quickly that it was almost disorienting.

“You _cannot_ tell anyone about this,” she said fiercely and took a step forward.

Now, Eliza wasn’t a physically imposing woman. Maggie didn’t think she was going to hurt her, or that the idea was truly running through her mind. But… the sheer ferocity was intimidating. The woman could glare better than the most homophobic asshole in all of Blue Springs, and what made it worse was that Eliza had an actual good reason to glare at her.

So, Maggie didn’t feel even an ounce of shame as she backed away from Eliza slowly with her hands held in front of her. Maggie sure as hell never wanted to _really_ get on her bad side.

“Whoa! I’m not going to tell anyone! And how could I? I’m not going to remember any of this,” Maggie reminded them. “But geez, you’re really scared that black-ops dudes are going to drag you guys out of your house in the dead of night, aren’t you? Is this what’s _really_ behind Alex’s Switch?”

Kara being an alien didn’t really matter to Maggie. Sure, it was probably the biggest shock of her life, meeting a real, honest to god alien. The only one most people knew was Superman. But it wasn’t as though Maggie didn’t understand the feeling of being so _different_ from everyone around her. Yeah, she couldn’t pull doors off their hinges, but that didn’t stop anyone from back home viewing her as some sort of monster.

Maggie would be the biggest hypocritical asshole in history if she tried to freak out over Kara being different.

“Jeremiah died working for the government,” Eliza growled out though clenched teeth.

“They… they found out about me,” Kara said quietly, all exuberance from her earlier questioning gone. “It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have gone out flying.”

_Flying?_

She had to force herself not to ask about that. Maggie had a feeling that if she went down that rabbit hole, she and Alex really would end up having to live each others lives.

“Alex should have known better,” Eliza muttered. “Just like she should know better that she can’t check out while Kara’s so new on this planet.”

“Do you blame Alex for Jeremiah’s death?” Maggie demanded bluntly.

Interestingly, Eliza’s attention snapped back to her. “Of course not! She didn’t crash his plane.”

“Because that’s what it sounds like, even if that’s not your intention. And if I can pick up on that within the first ten minutes of this conversation, I can only imagine what Alex must be feeling. Gotta be a heavy burden to think your mom blames you for your dad’s death.”

“I… I don’t blame her! But she could help mitigate some suspicion—“

Maggie immediately cut in. “Nope, sorry. Still sounds like blame. Want to try again?”

Eliza was practically gaping at her. She didn’t seem to know what to do with Maggie, apparently surprised that this entire conversation was even happening.

“How… how did you just _guess?”_ Eliza asked.

Maggie started to count off on her fingers. “Kara doesn’t have any pictures on the wall before her current age. You’re freaking out about being ‘normal,’ Kara should have known the answers to a good three-quarters of the questions she asked me. I don’t know, I’m not saying it’s _obvious,_ but I’m pretty good at spotting things that don’t add up. So yeah, I guessed that something was up with Kara. Nobody would have guessed _alien,_ but Kara kind of ruined that one herself.”

She glanced at the door still leaned against Alex’s bedroom wall.

“But, that’s skipping over why I’m really here, isn’t it? You say you don’t blame Alex, but you don’t _act_ like it. What do you think Alex believes? What you _say_ or what you _do?”_

Eliza’s bottom lip twitched just the slightest bit, and she rubbed a hand over her face. “I don’t…. She has to _know_ that we have to be _careful.”_

“Or some nameless organization is going to drag all of you away,” Maggie finished the thought for her. “So, in other words, you’re terrified of losing anyone else. Have you ever, I don’t know, _told her this?_ I get that most parents don’t really like to burden their kids with their feelings and stuff when things get hard. Most of the good ones, anyway or so I’ve heard…. But, you _really_ weren’t kidding about the ‘hardly normal’ thing. Have you ever sat Alex and Kara down and plainly went over just what you’re afraid of?”

“We told them when Kara first arrived that she couldn’t be found out. That people could hurt us if they knew she was living with us,” Eliza answered as she shook her head.

“Is that it? Because that still sounds like you put on the kids gloves with them. _Who_ is going to hurt you guys? _How?_ That’s like… when people back home tell me to stop _‘bringing attention’_ to myself if I don’t want to get beat up. Great, _solid_ advice. Totally will never get my ass kicked ever again, pack it in guys bullying is officially eradicated,” Maggie snorted.

“People beat you up?” Kara cut in, horrified at the thought.

Maggie shrugged. “I’m the only brown, gay kid in my backwater town. Guess it comes with the territory. No one cares what happens to me. That’s fine, it’s a shit town anyway. I’m leaving and never going back as soon as I can.”

Maggie tried to ignore the crushing sense of loneliness that ran through her. Where was she going to go after this? Would anyone ever care where she ended up?

“It’s whatever,” she ground out.

“Doesn’t sound like ‘whatever,’” Kara argued, sad puppy eyes cutting Maggie right to the core. What was _with_ these people and them caring about her for no reason?

“You sound sad and angry,” she pointed out plainly.

Her words made Maggie bristle. “I’m not _sad._ I don’t need any of those people. I’ve been taking care of myself, and I’ll make sure I’m something _better._ Someone they’d only ever _dream_ they could be, because I won’t ever just _throw_ people away like they’re _trash.”_

She sucked in a large breath. Okay… so maybe she hadn’t quite moved on from Valentine’s Day.

Maggie ignored the niggling feeling that she never would.

Instead she rounded on Eliza. “Is that what you’ve been doing? Making Alex feel like she’s _less_ than what she should be to you? Because that’s so stupid. I haven’t even met her, but from how my aunt changed, I can tell she’s amazing.”

“I know she’s amazing! She always has been,” Eliza insisted.

“Then act like it! I get it, you lost your husband _._ That has to suck. But why is everyone forgetting that they’re the _adults?_ I’m just supposed to move on after getting dumped by everyone I’ve ever known, and Alex is just supposed to suck up her own grief and deal with everyone else’s feelings. How is that fair? And how are we supposed to do that? You’re all just telling us to basically ‘stop being sad.’ Or, ‘Hey, here’s this boat you can use to cross Crappy Life River, except it’s got three holes in it and you’ve gotta use this spoon because we decided a real paddle was just too easy, good luck!’”

Maggie wasn’t just asking for Alex’s sake. She felt lost, like she was drowning. And nobody cared.

The exhaustion came back to Eliza’s posture. “We’re not the only people who have lost someone. Kara….”

She seemed to catch herself, and glanced at Kara. Whatever she was about to say was Kara’s business.

Kara’s face contorted into one of the deepest grimaces that Maggie had ever witnessed. It was such a stark difference between her earlier sunny demeanor, and Maggie didn’t know what to make of it.

“My planet was destroyed,” was all she said, in an emotionless tone, and that told Maggie all she needed to know about what kind of devastation Kara must be going through.

“Great. I’ve been disowned, you and Alex lost a third of your family, and Kara’s dealing with losing just about everything she’s ever known. All of that _sucks._ But why are you guys so busy ripping each other down when you should be _helping_ each other? Doesn’t it kinda say a lot that Alex and I didn’t Switch until now? Not right after Jeremiah died, or the week after when she randomly remembered something about him. Now. When all that pressure got to her.”

All the fight seemed to have left Eliza at Maggie’s words. Maggie didn’t know how she did it, but she managed to get Eliza to see where she, and basically Alex, was coming from. But that didn’t erase any of the exhaustion she was exuding. Maggie didn’t really expect it to, but she did get the feeling that this was going to be an ongoing problem. It wasn’t as though she just _forgot_ what her parents did to her, after all. She assumed losing someone through death worked similarly. Jeremiah’s death was going to hurt for a long time, probably forever, and she _really_ hoped that Alex’s family learned how to grieve with each other instead of lashing out.

“You’re… you’re right,” Eliza finally said. “I never meant for it to be like this. This… this wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Well, I wasn’t supposed to get kicked out, Kara wasn’t supposed to lose her planet, and Jeremiah wasn’t supposed to die,” Maggie pointed out flatly. “But it’s all happened, and the only thing we _can_ do is just… go on.”

“You’re a bit wise for your years,” Eliza said as she shook her head.

Maggie shrugged a little self-consciously. “My aunt didn’t exactly coddle me.”

“You’ve all gone through things you shouldn’t have. I’m sorry the adults in your lives weren’t able to protect you. Including me.”

“Is this the stuff you’re going to say to Alex?” Maggie pushed. “Because you don’t need to apologize to _me,_ if anything you’ve been more helpful towards my problems than anyone I actually know in my real life. Why not just… apply all of that to Alex?”

“You’re… a lot easier on me than you are on her,” Kara pointed out. Interestingly, it was absent of the indignant tone she had been using towards Alex. Maybe there was hope for these two to get along with each other eventually….

“I just… you lost everything,” Eliza said, and she almost seemed to be at a loss. “I don’t want to rub your face in that, Kara, but… I just wanted to provide a place where you could feel _safe_ while you processed everything that happened.”

“Yeah, but doesn’t Alex deserve that too?” Kara asked.

“She does,” Eliza admitted. “She… she does. I didn’t want to push this on you girls, but I guess I did that regardless. It’s been hard. I never imagined I’d be a single parent. I don’t know what to do, I and suppose I’ve been taking out that frustration on Alex….”

Maggie nodded, pleased that Eliza was getting somewhere. She didn’t know if Eliza would be able to take this realization and apply it, but she hoped so. Alex deserved better, and while Maggie was frustrated with Eliza, she did feel sorry for her too. She wasn’t like Maggie’s parents. She actually seemed to care that she was hurting Alex. So, maybe that would be enough.

There was no telling. Not until she either Switched with Alex again, or if they finally met each other. But, until then, Maggie just had to hope that her interference was enough. Alex had done so much for her the last time the Switched, and Maggie could only hope that she’d done even a fraction of that help for Alex this time around.

* * *

She was getting yelled at. Again. Alex didn’t know what her mother wanted, and she was just _tired._ How was Kara being weird at school her fault? It was like, as soon as her dad’s funeral was over, someone had switched her mother was someone else entirely.

Alex wanted her old life back. She wanted her dad to come back. She _hated_ what her family had turned into. Why couldn’t she just be left alone? Why’d she have to get an alien sister who didn’t know the most basic things about this planet? Why did _Alex_ have to teach her everything?

All she knew was that she didn’t ask for any of this, and now her mother just expected her to be _perfect._ To be _normal._ When nothing was normal, and wouldn’t _be_ normal ever again.

“I expect better from you, Alexandra,” Eliza was _almost_ yelling.

Alex shut her eyes, wishing she was anywhere but here.

“Kara is looking to you as an _example,_ and you’re too worried about your bands and your own friends. I don’t know why you’re being so selfish, but it needs to stop.”

 _Selfish?_ Alex was acting _selfish?_

Anger and resentment surged through her, and she wanted to just _scream_ at her mother.

But, when she opened her eyes, she wasn’t in her room, arguing with her mother anymore.

She was in a familiar living room, looking at a half made pull out couch.

And suddenly, the last time she was here flooded back into her memory. Alex could feel the tears building up behind them. Great. Now she had to deal with being gay with… everything else. Her mother wanted _normal,_ and Alex was fairly certain that being gay wasn’t going to fit her mother’s definition of normal.

She didn’t know what she was going to _do._

“Maggie, hurry up,” a voice said. “You’re going to be late, and I have to get to work.”

 _That_ voice. Alex didn’t want to deal with her on top of everything else.

When she didn’t answer, Maria appeared in the living room doorway. “Did you hear me? We have to go.”

“Leave me alone,” Alex hissed out. “I don’t want to talk to _you._ Just go to work, and I’ll stay here.”

Maria’s eyes narrowed, and she studied Alex for a moment. She sighed, and left the room. Alex hoped that the woman was actually going to go to work and just leave her here, but apparently the universe was just out to get her. She heard Maria speaking in a muffled tone, but only heard her half. Was she talking on the phone?

She didn’t have to wait long, Maria soon reappeared, and sat on the half made up fold out couch. Alex had no idea what she was doing, but Maria was looking at her expectantly, and it made her hackles rise.

“ _What?”_ she demanded harshly.

“I’m waiting for you to tell me why you’re here,” Maria said.

And for some reason, that one sentence was what finally set Alex off.

“Yeah, because I’m just _sure_ you want me out of your house,” she shouted. “Trust me, I don’t want to be here either, with _you_ because I’m almost positive that the only thing you can do is make me feel even worse. God, this Switching _sucks._ How is it helpful when they people you Switch to are awful?”

“Well, I’m all that you have. So, you can either rage at the way things are, or you can get down to business and help me sort this out. Otherwise, we’re going to be here for a long time,” Maria said with a shrug.

Alex hated this. She hated that she was here. She hated that Maria seemed much more put together than the last time she was here, and she hated that she of all people was going to have to help her get back.

“Why? It’s not like you even care,” she hissed out. “Whatever fake advice you’re going to give me probably isn’t going to help me get back.”

“I thought you were a scientist,” Maria said with a raised brow. “And here you are, jumping to conclusions.”

“Are… are you making fun of me?!” Alex demanded.

She didn’t need this. Today was bad enough already, and now she had to deal with _this?_ It was official. The universe _did_ hate her.

Maria shook her head, though. “No, I’m not. Despite thinking the worst of me, I _do_ actually want to get you back where you belong.”

Alex eyed her warily. “Why?”

“Believe it or not, I’m actually not a complete monster. For someone so cocky and disrespectful, it’s very easy to tell when you’re upset. Obviously, you triggered the Switch this time. Maggie and I have been… getting along. As well as we can be, I suppose.”

Her attention piqued at that. The last thing Alex wanted to do was talk about herself, and she _was_ curious if Maria had managed to back off of Maggie at least a little bit.

“So, you stopped treating her like crap?” Alex asked, probably with a little more snark than necessary, but she figured it was only what Maria deserved anyway.

Maria ignored the barb, and Alex was a tad bit disappointed. “I went to visit my priest.”

Alex groaned. “And you’ve been getting _along?!”_ She asked dubiously.

“ _And,”_ Maria continued over her, “he told me the same thing you did, actually.”

Alex didn’t bother to reign in her surprise. “Really? And so you finally believed that you shouldn’t be so horrible to Maggie because a priest told you?”

Maria rolled her eyes. “I thought I was _helping_ her. But, he told me what I was doing was only going to hurt her in the long run. The church does apparently welcome homosexuals too. I don’t agree with it, but he told me that keeping her miserable wasn’t going to help her find God either.”

“Great, glad you realized that keeping someone _miserable_ was going to be bad for them,” Alex said, rolling her eyes.

“That’s not what I meant,” Maria huffed out. “Besides, it was never my intention to make her _miserable._ I just wanted her to find God, and to stop living a lie. But… my priest convinced me that Maggie might not be living what she _thinks_ is a lie.”

Well, that was actually some progress, and Alex had to begrudgingly give Maria some credit for finally listening to some reason. Granted, she should have never _been_ in that unreasonable position in the first place, but Alex supposed if she was going to start off awful, the least she could do was attempt to be better. She _could_ have stayed terrible.

“She’s not living a lie at all,” Alex stubbornly contested. “What she’s going through is as real as any straight relationship.”

She didn’t know where she was getting this confidence. Alex wasn’t so sure that living… gay was a great idea for her. Not with trying to keep _normal_ for Kara’s sake, but for Maggie? Alex at least wanted Maggie to be happy. Even if she couldn’t be.

“Hmm,” Maria grunted. So, there was still some progress to be made. Alex tried not to go over and shake her by the shoulders. “Well, you’re not here because of Maggie. I know that for a fact. So, why don’t we get right to the heart of the matter. You’ve made it obvious you can’t stand the sight of me.”

Alex gritted her teeth. On the one hand, she did _not_ want to talk to Maria about any problems she was having. About _anything_ really. On the other, it wasn’t as though there was anyone else in Maggie’s life to help her through this. And Alex knew that the only way she was getting back was if she worked through the emotions that triggered this Switch.

Man, this soulmate thing really sucked.

“My dad died, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear? There’s one less science believing heathen in the world, congratulations,” Alex spat out.

But Maria didn’t seem happy. If anything, a cloud seemed to pass over her features for a moment before she managed to straighten her expression.

“No, it isn’t. I told you my soulmate died, do you remember? Despite our differences, I wouldn’t wish that kind of loss on anyone. He was your father, but it isn’t easy to lose him all the same, is it?”

Alex could see the tears well up in her eyes this time. She wiped at them angrily, not wanting to show vulnerability to this woman. Of all people, this was the one she cried in front of. Alex had managed to keep herself stoic in front of her mother and Kara, and now, when the cracks finally broke through she had to do it _here?_

“I didn’t think so. It’s infuriating, isn’t it? To know that there was nothing you could have done? To know that he was going to be lost no matter what you did, the choices you made, and have everyone apologize to you and tell you it was part of God’s plan? As though that was comforting when your entire life is turned upside down,” Maria snorted, though her attention seemed to be far away, and not with Alex in that moment.

And despite herself, Alex couldn’t help herself from agreeing with Maria. It _was_ infuriating. Her father had died in a _plane crash_ of all things. There was nothing that could have been done to save him, and it seemed like the same universe that was always picking on Alex had done the cruelest thing it possibly could have to her. For no other reason than to see her suffer as much as she ever has in her entire life.

For what, Alex didn’t know. And a part of her wanted, no _needed_ to know. Why did this have to happen to _her_ family? Why was she such an easy target?

“So, is that why you’ve Switched? You’re angry that he died?” Maria asked.

No matter what Alex had wanted, she couldn’t help but shake her head. It seemed this conversation was going to happen whether she wanted it to or not. Then again, it wasn’t like Alex could go home without it happening.

Maybe she didn’t want to actually go home…. She’d end up back where she started, wouldn’t she? With her overbearing mother and her clueless sister and her dead father.

What a life.

“I… I _hate_ that he’s gone. I miss him so much,” Alex finally admitted. “But, he’s not the problem. It’s… it’s my mom.”

Alex didn’t know how to go on. If she did, she’d have to bring up all the ways her mother had changed, and all the extra expectations she now had for her. Alex would have to relive all the ways her life had suddenly changed.

She didn’t want to do that.

Maria didn’t prompt her to continue. She just continued to wait Alex out, and man if Alex didn’t just _hate_ that. They both knew she was stuck here until she finally gathered the guts to actually talk about what was bothering her.

“She’s been _really_ on my case since he died,” Alex continued begrudgingly. “I’m supposed to take care of my adopted sister, keep up with every single thing she asks me to do, school, homework, and do all of it _perfectly._ All the time. I’m not allowed to just… slow down.”

“You haven’t had a chance to process everything,” Maria concluded.

Alex shuffled uncomfortably, not all that thrilled that Maria was reading her so well.

“Yeah… guess so.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“Why do I think what is?” Alex asked.

“Why do you think your mother is being so hard on you?”

She huffed. “I don’t know. Does it really matter? She’s being unreasonable.”

Maria shrugged back at her. “It does if you want to get to the bottom of this and go home. Have you thought about what she’s been going through as well?”

Alex gritted her teeth. She wished she could just storm out of this house and not have this conversation.

“Why do I have to think about what _she’s_ been going through?” She shouted. “It’s not like she’s been thinking about me! It’s all about Kara, or what other people are thinking, or ‘doing my part!’ Well, my part is huge, and what if I don’t _want_ to do it anymore?”

“You could stop whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing. But, that would probably only make things harder on you. Wasn’t it you last time you were here urging me to have some empathy towards what Maggie was going through?” Maria asked with a raised brow. “But, you’re here today trying your hardest to stubbornly refuse to see the way the rest of your family might be processing their own problems.”

“Great! I’ve left my body while I was getting berated, only to appear here for a lecture,” Alex snapped. “What do you want from me? What does _everybody_ want from me?”

“Teenagers,” Maria muttered to herself, though it was suspiciously loud enough for Alex to overhear quite easily. “Don’t you pride yourself on being bright? I’m trying to get you to make the first step towards working _with_ your mother. It doesn’t matter if she was being _mean_ to you first, or isn’t thinking of your issues. All thinking like that is going to get you is even more of the same that you’re already going through. Someone has to make the first move, and part of being an adult is realizing when that person has to be _you._ Do you understand?”

As much as Alex absolutely _hated_ to admit it, Maria… might have had a point. She didn’t really _want_ to be the one out of the two of them to be ‘reasonable’ first. After all, it was her mother causing all the problems in the first place…. At least Alex thought so, anyway. Okay, so maybe she could stand to be less snarky and probably be nicer to Kara, but still. Her mother didn’t have to be so harsh.

Maria seemed to take her silence as an answer. “Good. As for why your mother is acting the way that she is…. All I can say to that is that losing your soulmate is probably the most painful thing someone can possibly go through. She’s likely reeling from losing your father and doesn’t know how to deal with those emotions.”

“So, she’s taking them out of me,” Alex stated, more than a little heatedly.

“Yes. It’s not fair, but life has never been fair.”

Alex stared at Maria for a moment. “Alright, what’s with all the kinda decent advice? What happened to the person I talked to the first time? Did you get taken by mole people?”

Maria scoffed. “Is it too much to believe that I actually have some life experience to offer you?”

“No, it’s too much to believe that you’d actually want to give it to me in the first place,” Alex answered flatly. “To be honest, I thought you’d be more likely to just tell me to pray to a God I don’t believe in and move on. Like it’s just that simple.”

“But I know better than most that it isn’t that simple at all. I _was_ told to pray to God, to understand that it was all part of his plan, that I would meet my soulmate again when the time came. But none of that made it any easier to deal with the loss. God may not have taken him from me, or he might have. I don’t know, no one does. And that provides much less comfort than many of the people in my life probably thought it would.

“The difference between you and me is that you actually have people in your life who know what you’re going through because you all lost the same person. You can be like me and squander years of your life being angry about this. Rage at how unfair it all is. And realize that you’ve wasted so much time, when you could have done the best you can to _live_ your life instead. That is what my soulmate would have wanted, and I bet that your father probably would have wanted the same,” Maria said wistfully.

It really did feel like Alex was in the Twilight Zone. Never would she have imagined that the woman in front of her was capable of actually _caring._ In what way she could, at least. It did Alex a lot of hope that she was treating Maggie a little better than she had been. Whatever that priest said to her, it seemed to have done a ton.

Or maybe Alex actually _did_ get through to her in some way, and Maria didn’t want to admit it.

Either way, the results were the same. This person was vastly different than the one Alex had last spoken to.

“And what happens if I try my hardest to do what my mother wants me to… and nothing changes?” Alex asked. She didn’t want to admit how much this possibility scared her. She really did miss her mother. The way she was before. Before all of this had happened…. And now Alex was afraid she’d never get the same person her mother had been ever again.

“Well, I _would_ recommend actually talking with each other,” Maria said dryly. “How much would you say that ‘s half the reason you’re both this bad off in the first place?”

“It’s not my fault she doesn’t want to talk about him! It’s like he never _existed_ or something.”

“I didn’t want to talk about my soulmate for the longest time either.”

“But how do we _talk_ about it if she doesn’t want to talk about _him?”_ Alex asked, completely exasperated at this point.

She could understand trying to give her mother some slack in terms of actually losing her soulmate. Yeah, that had to suck. Alex hated it enough as it was, and her dad was… well, her dad. She couldn’t imagine meeting Maggie one day, thinking they had their whole lives together after that, knowing each others darkest moments, and then… losing her one day. That… that probably wasn’t easy. Alex hadn’t thought of it that way before, and she felt a little guilty about that.

That didn’t stop her confusion about what she was supposed to _do_ about it all though. She couldn’t keep going at the pace her mother was demanding. It was unsustainable. Alex was exhausted as it was.

“Why don’t you display some of this irritating backbone you have towards me? You’re the most stubborn, unrepentantly annoying child I have ever met. Don’t tell me you don’t act this way in your day to day life. I’m sure if you were at least half as persistent with your mother as you are with me, she’d eventually have to realize that she would have to talk to you.”

Alright, so _maybe_ that would work. Alex has been so tired lately. Half the time, she didn’t really want to put up much of a fight with her mother at all. Just let her yell and lecture, and be done with it. She could only hope that it wouldn’t blow up in her face.

“Okay. Thanks, I guess. For all the… stuff you’ve told me,” Alex said haltingly.

“That sounded as though it didn’t pain you _at all_ to say.”

Alex ignored the barb. She felt… a little better about what she was going to do when she got back home. She could only hope that meant that she and Maggie would be Switching back soon. Because a whole day trading snark with Maria didn’t really sound too fun. Alex _was_ grateful for the talk. Kind of. A little. Okay, Maria had a lot to say that was actually useful. That was as much as the woman was ever going to get from Alex. And only in her mind.

Other than that, Maria was right. Alex _could_ go back home and fight for what she wanted. With a tad bit of empathy, sure, but her mother wasn’t going to get away with hiding at work or in her bedroom. They _were_ going to talk about some things, where she wanted to or not.

First, she just had to finish waiting _this_ out in one of the most awkward small talk sessions in the history of mankind.

If there was a God, Alex hoped he, she, them, whatever, had Maria leave her with the TV remote or something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is brought to you by our sponsors: Austin Eastciders Texas Honey Cider (AKA drunk writing), singing sessions to The Dear Hunter, and Diablo III on Switch. All managed to help me deal with this damned ADHD.
> 
> But yeah, this was actually a bit harder to write than I expected at the outset. Turns out, writing family drama with problematic adults who have at least *some* redeeming qualities is kind of hard. Particularly since my own examples as a teenager didn't have even a quarter of this kind of self-awareness that Eliza and Maria have in varying degrees.
> 
> I felt like I needed to portray Eliza in which canon suggested she acted after the fallout from Jeremiah's disappearance. You don't cause life-long self-esteem issues in your kid without acting in a way that is more than a little harsh, after all. But, at the same time, she *does* eventually go out of her way to not only apologize but actively act on said apology to repair her relationship with Alex. So... this suggests that Eliza felt guilty and probably realized that she never should have been so hard on Alex in the first place. At the same time, in canon, she lost her husband, had to step up to single parenthood, and deal with the fact that if they even so much as dropped a hint that Kara wasn't being contained, Kara and at the very least Eliza herself would have probably been dragged off by the military in some form. Alex stood the best change at being left alone, but at that point, she would have effectively been orphaned.... Yeah, that's a lot of stress, I can see why she didn't really deal with it well, and it wasn't as though they could just go to grief counseling what with Kara's secret and all.
> 
> All that said, it doesn't excuse Eliza of her actions, which is why Maggie is a little shit and calls her out, but I've always been an Eliza defender. Too many fics demonize her to a ridiculous degree. She's not perfect, but she's not a monster either. There is an in between that she kind of sits in very nicely, in fact if you opened the dictionary to "Formerly Problematic Parents Who Have Taken Steps to Atone For Their Mistakes" Eliza Danvers would probably be near the top.
> 
> Maggie, I think, would have primarily survived as a teenager in Blue Springs Shitbraska (no offense to the sane people in Nebraska, but lord is this fictional place apparently a shitshow) with a massive chip on her shoulder. Here she is with her cockiness and junior detective skills. A bit wiser than her years due to her effectively realizing she was going to have to raise herself in many regards now.
> 
> Maria's development was primarily inspired with my personal in real life talk with my family's priest after my disastrous coming out to my own mother. It was the only thing what would get her to back off. Anyway, he was far more socially liberal than I could have possibly imagined for a Catholic priest. He said some problematic things, "Keep your heart open in case you make a different decision as you get older." But, he also told me that I needed to, "live [my] life in a way that would make [me] happy." So, all in all, probably an 8 out of 10 experience for talking with a religious figure in an institution known for its homophobia. (Mom was far from happy and has elected to pretend I never came out at all, but whatever.)
> 
> But yeah, those are my notes for characters. Alex I don't have too much to say about because I feel like she would have been an angry, but exhausted kid during this time. She's very empathetic as an adult, though only towards other people. Primarily Kara and Maggie. And she doesn't much devote the same amount of emotional energy towards her own emotions, or Eliza's. Not until some steps were taken to fix their relationship by the time Alex is an adult in S1, and after she comes out in S2. So, she probably needed a little tough love here to actually take a look at what was really happening between her and Eliza.
> 
> I can't promise when I get to another installment for this fic. It's probably the most emotionally exhausting of all of my fics to write. Mostly because of all the personal inspiration I take from my own life to write the adults in it so far. Except my mom never did get any better, so then it turns into writing a little about what I wish I could have had at this age, and it adds up to long ass waits until I get enough emotional energy to work on this in the form of venting.


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex is spiraling. Her life feels like it's in shambles, and there is nothing she can do to fix it. Perhaps what she needs is to see that no doors are every truly closed. Maggie gets to vet one Hank Henshaw as he attempts to intervene during this very trying time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all can thank my beta for this chapter. She got my brain running after asking a few questions about this story the other day. :D

Alex stared down at her hands. How did she get here? She knew the answer to that. She did. As much as she didn’t want to admit it. Alex had been on this road for a long time, and she hadn’t realized until now just how much of a dead end it truly was.

She thought she could outrun it. All the stress, the pressure, the demands of everyone around her to succeed. Succeed at what? Becoming a doctor wasn’t something she _really_ wanted to do. Alex was just trying to live up to him. Just as she always had. She loved science, she loved studying alien biochemistry. She just… when was Alex going to get to be _Alex?_

Not an older sister, not a perfect daughter, not a reminder to everyone around her that she was just a piece of a person they lost forever. Sometimes, when her mother looked at her, Alex wondered if she saw Alex or her father. When Eliza’s face crumpled, Alex assumed it was the latter.

And it just… she couldn’t keep up. Kara deserved a sister who could be her example of human success. What it looked like to live like a human, succeed like one, and be the best at what she did. Without her powers. And Alex couldn’t get it right. She didn’t even know what this perfect person _looked_ like. Alex was tired, and she wanted a break. She wanted to just forget. Just for a little while. Be someone who didn’t need to be on stage at all times. Who could actually breathe if she stood still long enough.

That wasn’t even getting into what her mother expected of her. Alex knew why she had to be perfect. It wasn’t all about her father. Though, she did wonder if he’d be disappointed in her too. Alex _had_ to be on point. Good grades, no signs of struggling, normal if extremely brilliant. No reason to suspect that their family could be hiding _anything._

But Alex didn’t _feel_ like she was normal. If she was, why couldn’t she feel the same things other women could? Why couldn’t she make her relationships work? What was wrong with her? There had to be something wrong. Nothing ever _worked._ Alex tried, she tried over and over again, yet every time she even so much as had a new boy speak with her, she panicked. There were no butterflies in her stomach. No, it always felt more like a swooping, lead ridden sense of _dread._ Of the impending sense of failure waiting in the wings for Alex to mess up. For not being open enough. Not putting enough in the relationship. For being too busy. For not giving them what they wanted often enough.

For not being happy.

If she couldn’t get that right, just how was she _normal?_ No part of Alex felt normal. The only time she did, even remotely, was when she was drinking. Then, all of these feelings just… went away. For only a blessed few hours, but they went away. And Alex was allowed to pretend that she didn’t have any little alien sisters. No overbearing mothers with unrealistic expectations. No ghosts of her father doggedly following every step she made. No feelings that she was doing something _wrong_ with her life.

Yet, the inevitable crash back to reality would come knocking. And each time she came back, it was worse than before. Each time she wanted to get away from it all felt like it required more and more alcohol. More and more running. More hiding.

Hiding from what, Alex didn’t even know. It was this _thing._ A huge thing. A thing that Alex felt like she was missing about herself on some fundamental level.

And that just made her feel stupid. Why couldn’t she figure this out? The conundrum went around and around her head during the more quiet times in her life. And that only got her looking all over again for enough noise to drown it all out.

This time, though, Alex had _fucked up._ There was no beating around the bush. She couldn’t just forget this one. Couldn’t use alcohol to separate herself from it. Hell, alcohol had gotten her _into_ this mess.

She’d really stepped into it this time. Everything was going to fall apart. Kara and Mom were going to find out. There was no hiding it. She was going to need a lawyer. Who would she even call? They were supposed to give her a phone call, right? Alex was well aware that jail wasn’t all like how it was portrayed on TV, but she was pretty certain she got a call. The only problem being that Alex didn’t _want_ to call anyone she knew. She didn’t want them to see her like this. Rock bottom, with no way out.

What was she supposed to do after this? She was on academic probation, and would probably have a record for the foreseeable future, if not forever. Who was going to hire her? What was the school going to do if they found out she’d been arrested, if anything?

God, Alex had _so many_ questions, yet no one to get answers from.

For the first time, Alex truly felt _helpless._ And all she could do was sit here with that feeling until… well, she didn’t really know how long she was going to be stuck like this.

Alex clenched her eyes shut. Half hoping that when she opened them, this would be a dream.

Except, when she did open them, her bedroom ceiling didn’t greet her.

Instead, she was greeted by an unfamiliar apartment, and was sitting on an unfamiliar couch, apparently watching an unfamiliar TV.

“Oh my god, why _now?”_ Alex groaned out.

She didn’t need this. As much as it seemed nice that she was out of a jail cell, this wasn’t going to help her fix her problems. And on top of that, she was subjecting her soulmate to the consequences of her own mistakes.

Her soulmate.

_Maggie._

Was it weird that a single name could make Alex feel _even more_ stressed than she started? Was this why she didn’t feel normal in her day to day life? How had she forgotten this? She was gay. Alex was _gay._

As if her academic failures weren’t enough, now there was _this._

How was she supposed to tell her mother about this? Kara? Would they even understand? _Alex_ didn’t think she even understood. What was this going to mean for her? Would she date women the same way she dated men? Oh, god, Alex hoped not. Dating was terrible for her, and Alex wondered if being gay would even make it easier on her. Probably not. She could barely hold her own personal life together as it was. Adding another person’s issues on top? Impossible, woman or not.

“Baby?” A voice called out. A _female_ voice.

Oh god.

Was Maggie dating?

There was nothing wrong with that. Alex hadn’t even directly _met_ Maggie. And it’s not like either of them remembered the other when they switched back. So. This was fine. Completely fine.

She tried to take in a few stuttering breaths.

This wasn’t fine.

What was Alex supposed to _do_ here? Explain that she wasn’t Maggie? Pretend she was Maggie? No, wait, that was a terrible idea. Would she and Maggie switch back if Alex became too stressed in _Maggie’s_ body? Did it work like that? Alex clenched her eyes shut again.

No. Apparently it didn’t work like that.

“Maggie?” The woman asked, and frowned at Alex. But then that confusion soured into irritation. “Are you tired _again?_ You’re the one who invited _me.”_

What?

What was going on? If this was Maggie’s girlfriend, Alex wasn’t very impressed.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Alex demanded hotly. Yes. She could use this. Alex was _much_ more comfortable with defending herself rather than dealing with Maggie’s love life _as Maggie._ “I don’t even know who you are!” She continued.

That brought the other woman up short. Her eyes widened as she realized that she wasn’t yelling at Maggie at all, but then her face twisted into a sneer.

“Great. I can’t believe this. The first time we get together in over a week and she _ruins it.”_

She stormed over to a nearby closet and pulled out a coat. “Word of advice, don’t expect your soulmate to invest any time with you. She’s not going to care.”

Alex was dumbfounded as the other woman angrily shrugged her coat on. All she knew was that Maggie could do _way_ better than this woman if this was the treatment she was regularly subjected to.

“What are you talking about?” Alex demanded angrily. _“I’m_ the one who had us Switched. It’s obvious you don’t know a thing about Maggie. I think you should just go.”

Maybe it was a bit presumptuous to kick Maggie’s girlfriend out of Maggie’s apartment, but Alex wasn’t going to put up with this. Through the two Switches they’ve been through, Maggie had done nothing but be exceedingly kind to Alex. And that was just _indirectly._ Alex _was not_ going to tolerate anyone speaking unsubstantiated, negative lies about her.

The woman shrugged. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The door slammed behind her, and then Alex was left alone.

Wow.

Okay, so that was Maggie’s ex-girlfriend.

Oh, shit. That was Maggie’s _ex-girlfriend._

Alex groaned and placed her head in her hands. Or Maggie’s head. This was… never going to be something Alex would completely get used to. But, nevermind that. She’d just gotten Maggie dumped. Way to go, Alex. Real winning move. Not only was she determined to ruin her own life, now she was apparently out to get Maggie’s too.

She didn’t want Maggie to return to her own life, completely blindsided. Alex drug herself off the couch— _wow,_ Maggie’s body was sore as hell—and went searching for some paper. As she did, she started to notice Maggie’s apartment. It was tiny, but Alex thought it suited her. Certainly more than a pullout bed in a living room.

There were few pictures in Maggie’s apartment. This did not surprise Alex, considering what had happened between Maggie’s family and… oh, yeah, Maria. Yep, Maggie probably wasn’t looking to keep many reminders of her family around. But… there was one photo of Maggie and Maria at what Alex presumed to be Maggie’s high school graduation. They seemed a little tense in the photo, but Maggie’s smile was triumphant, and even Maria seemed vaguely pleased.

Probably as good an outcome as could be expected.

And. _Wow._ Maggie had dimples.

Alex wasn’t sure why she noticed that in particular about the photo.

She decided to put it down. It was giving her feelings she wasn’t sure how to identify, and ignoring those feelings always seemed to work out for her before.

Beyond that, Maggie had a ton of textbooks lying around. Forensic science, a little pre-law… was that a botany textbook? It would match the little bonsai trees that were growing on her kitchen windowsill. Beyond that, Maggie’s furniture was simple and unassuming.

Alex thought the apartment suited Maggie. There were a few surprises in here, like the bonsai trees, but Alex was enjoying learning more about her.

She finally found some paper in a drawer next to Maggie’s refrigerator. Pens included. With that, Alex set about leaving a note. It was the very least she could do after all the trouble she caused.

_Hey, it’s Alex. Yeah, that Alex._

_I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to put in here, but, I’m sorry for any trouble I’ve caused you. I’m pretty sure I’m the reason your girlfriend broke up with you, but if it means anything from me, I don’t think she deserved you. I know we’ve only gotten a few glimpses of each other lives, but what I’ve seen from yours, you’re a strong person, Maggie. All that you’ve overcome and achieved on your own speaks volumes about you as a person. And if this girlfriend can’t see that, then find one who can._

_Because you deserve to live a happy life._

Alex swallowed harshly as she hung her note to the fridge. Maybe she should follow her own advice. The only problem was that Alex felt like she was drowning. Where did she even start?

Maggie clearly had everything put together. She’d graduated, gotten her own place, and from the contents of her fridge, she clearly knew how to competently feed herself.

Evidently, Maggie knew how to be an adult. And Alex was fumbling in the dark. Maggie, who had no support system to speak of, had carved out a life for herself. All on her own. Probably through sheer determination, to prove to everyone and herself that she was someone who mattered.

Well, that was how Alex would feel if she was in Maggie’s position.

And Alex… she knew she couldn’t measure up to that kind of strength. Alex, who still had her mother and sister, and yet she was wallowing in her own sense of failure, bodily sitting in a jail cell—one that Maggie was bound to be trapped in this very moment—and feeling sorry for herself.

What kind of person was she shaping up to be? Let alone soulmate. God, Maggie must be thinking she’s pathetic. Just… destroying her life, and for what? Losing her father? Whereas Maggie seemed to have flourished on her own. Alex knew that it probably wasn’t fair to compare their circumstances, but she couldn’t help it. Besides, at what point did it become obvious that Alex was just… actively sabotaging herself? Now? After having been caught trying to _drink and drive?_ Being in Maggie’s body brought with it the benefits of a sober mind. And Maggie was stuck in Alex’s drunken body….

Yeah, it was becoming increasingly clear to Alex that she was messing everything up.

Maybe that should have happened after she realized she’d been put on academic probation, and yet she went out and made everything that much worse.

Alex sighed and sat back down on the couch. Great. She was finally aware that she was sabotaging herself. Now what? She was still on academic probation, and was going to have a criminal record with this damn DUI that she had no one to blame for but herself. What was her mother going to say when she found out? Alex would still need someone to bail her out, and now she was going to have to choose who’s disappointment she was going to see first. Kara or her mother’s… neither were great choices.

She was just going to have to suck it up. It wasn’t as though she could just close her eyes and everything would be gone. Well. Not _permanently,_ at least. And Maggie was going to have to get back to her own life. One that Alex was probably only going to wreck the longer she stayed here, on top of the damage she’d already inflicted tonight.

She could only hope that Maggie would forgive her for everything. It would be more than Alex would deserve.

* * *

Maggie had a long day. Joining the police academy was no joke, though she wouldn’t trade it for anything. She’d been looking forward to relaxing after a particularly harsh day of training, but her girlfriend had texted her and Maggie had realized that she wasn’t going to be getting the quiet night she’d been looking forward to.

It wasn’t as though her Nat was _exhausting_ to be around. Maggie was just tired. She’d had a long day and just wanted to unwind. Granted, they hadn’t spent a ton of time together since she’d joined the academy, and Maggie had _thought_ she’d explained that she was going to be swamped for the next few months, but Nat was insistent. And fine, maybe Maggie was being a little unfair here. This was a big adjustment to their relationship, and they were bound to go through some growing pains, right?

But really she just wanted to drink a beer, watch something brainless on the TV, and probably fall asleep for an hour or so.

“Maggie, are you even listening to me?” Nat’s voice called out from her kitchen.

Honestly? Maggie couldn’t recall what they had been talking about. She was zoned, and seconds away from falling into that longed for nap.

“What?” Maggie asked, already wincing. Nat was getting upset with her lately because she didn’t pay enough attention to her.

And she was _trying._ Maggie really was trying, but it seemed like she was just juggling her life lately. And dropping more than one ball.

“Are you serious?” Nat’s angry face was glaring at her when Maggie turned to look at her.

Minefield. Maggie had stepped right into one. She wondered if she could find her way out again without the night ending in tears from one of them. Probably Nat. Maggie was too tired for tears.

“Sorry, there was just this thing on the TV,” Maggie said, hoping against hope that Nat would just leave it. Maggie wasn’t going to blame her inattention on the academy. That was a sure fire way to get one of those mines to trip….

Nat narrowed her eyes, but apparently realized the same thing that Maggie was thinking. If she wanted them to spend time together, then getting too upset wasn’t going to help things.

“I was just wondering if you wanted to order in. You do look tired,” Nat said.

Well, it was an olive branch at least. Maggie turned back to the TV as Nat started to list off names of delivery places. She really didn’t mind what they ordered. Maggie was actually hungry enough to eat anything.

This was going well so far. As long as nothing happened—

Her TV was gone. Her slightly uncomfortable couch was traded for a definitely uncomfortable, solid metal bench. In fact, Maggie was now staring directly at a _very_ familiar cement brick wall.

Jails weren’t very creative architecturally.

Maggie groaned. Alex sure had some great timing.

She also noted that she was on the _wrong_ side of the bars.

Okay, so she probably shouldn’t be too hard on Alex right now. Apparently her soulmate has stepped into some deep shit. Maggie rested her head against the cell bars.

What in the world had Alex done to get here? For the past several years, things had been quiet on both their ends, if the lack of Switches were any sign. Which was good. Maggie was happy about that. As much as she liked to learn about Alex in these Switches, they weren’t really happy experiences. Maggie wouldn’t trade them for Alex’s happiness, and even if she’d never met Alex directly, Maggie was positive she felt the same way.

Which also meant that Alex wasn’t trying to harm Maggie’s turbulent relationship. This was just unfortunate timing. On top of some unfortunate circumstances. What _had_ Alex done? She was smart, Maggie didn’t need to be a detective to figure that out. It didn’t make much sense that Alex could find herself in the usual places or with the usual people that would lead her into a jail cell.

Hopefully this was a one-off thing, and Alex was just freaking out. Hell, she might not have done anything and could have found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maggie was going to have to try to remember that just because people were arrested, it didn’t mean that they were guilty. Kind of a centerpiece concept to her future job. Cops who forgot that didn’t strike Maggie as good cops.

Wherever Alex was, it was apparently a quiet night. There was only a couple of other women in the general cell she was locked in. They were on the other side, and it appeared they knew each other if the rapid fire whispering was any indication. Maggie couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she would bet that they were a classic case of ‘wild college student drags her bookish, wallflower friend into a night of antics.’

She hadn’t been in the academy for long, but Maggie could tell that was a common tale in college towns.

Was that where Alex was? Would fit her age at least. Hopefully this meant that she wasn’t here for any serious charges.

Maggie stood up a little and tried to get a good view of what she was dealing with. Were there cops she could talk to? Oftentimes, perps tried to claim that they’d Switched to try and get let out early. As if the Switch was permanent, and the police would actually let out violent criminals. Yeah, that was _totally_ a thing, and they were totally not just making it up a good ninety percent of the time….

But when Maggie stood up, Alex’s body decided to let her know that they _would not_ be moving any time soon from where she’d planted herself.

“Geez, Alex, you’re smashed,” Maggie clenched her eyes shut as the world spun around her. It was a very disorienting feeling. If she sat _and did not move at all,_ she was fine. But, once said movement happened, Alex’s physical body would interfere with Maggie’s thoughts, and then the world would spin.

She didn’t even want to get into how this worked. Soulmates didn’t make scientific sense, apparently, and Maggie wasn’t the type to dwell on it.

It did nix her plan to talk to someone. While claiming a Switch and then asking to be released was one thing, cops weren’t totally blind that it was actually possible. All Maggie wanted to know was why she was here. It would help her circumstances make more sense.

“Alex Danvers,” a man’s deep voice said from behind her.

Danvers, huh.

But, learning something new about Alex was going to have to fall to the wayside. She didn’t know who this man was, and she had no idea if Alex did either.

“Are you a lawyer? I don’t think I called you.”

No, Alex was _way_ too intoxicated for that to have happened before now. The buzz was thankfully coming down, but Maggie didn’t think the cops would have given her a chance to call for anyone until she was sobered up a little more.

An older black man was taking Alex in thoughtfully on the other side of the bars, and he knelt down beside Maggie with a small smile.

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not a lawyer.”

That brought on some alarm bells in Maggie’s head. Alex was having a hard night as it was. She didn’t need to be pestered by anyone right now.

Besides, it was _Maggie_ who was going to have to deal with the pestering.

“What, are you a priest then? You’re wasting your time,” Maggie snorted. “I’m not exactly a prime candidate for jailhouse conversion.”

No, she wasn’t really fond of priests. Not after being dragged to church every week by her aunt.

And then there was the whole ‘lesbianism’ thing. Catholics weren’t big fans.

“I wouldn’t think so. Scientists are generally skeptics,” the man said calmly.

So maybe he did know Alex more than she would have thought. Maggie kind of wanted to see where this was going.

“Not that you’re much of a scientist these days,” he continued. “That is if your latest transcripts were any indication.”

Oh, Alex, is that why they both somehow ended up here? Maggie was beginning to piece this puzzle together. Alex was self-destructing, and it made Maggie feel like she’d failed in their last Switch. She’d hoped that Alex would have gone on and been happy. But maybe she’d failed to reach Eliza, or maybe something else had happened.

It didn’t really matter. Alex wasn’t doing well, apparently tried to forget that fact by getting smashed, and then ended up in here. How that happened was still a mystery to Maggie, but it was probably something to do with public intoxication.

She hoped so, at least.

But, this man’s knowledge was piquing Maggie’s interest. Who was this guy? Why was he so interested in Alex? Maggie owed it to her to figure this out. She’d failed the last time around, and Maggie wasn’t going to leave without ensuring that Alex would come back to something _better._

“How do you know about that?” She asked. She still had her back turned to the man, but swiveled her head to look at him from the corner of her eye. Maggie didn’t want to let him out of her sight.

“Oho, I know a lot of things about you, Alex.”

And that was precisely the problem, in Maggie’s eyes.

“I know about your house in Midvale.”

Maggie didn’t know about that, but the fact this guy did was setting off red flags all over her mind. Did Alex have some kind of stalker? Maggie knew a few things about stalkers from reading up on them. They were probably going to end up being a big part of her job, and well… they freaked her out.

But apparently that wasn’t the end of it.

“Where every night you’d watch the stars from your roof. I know how you got that scar on your arm,” he continued listing off.

Well, this complete stranger was turning out to know far more about Alex than Maggie did. She didn’t like that. Not one bit.

“And I know about your sister.”

 _Maggie_ definitely _didn’t like that._

Memories from the last Switch came flooding back.

The sister. Alex’s sister. The _alien,_ kid sister. The one Maggie had promised she’d never rat out. Well, she wasn’t going to start now. She _needed_ to find out what this guy’s angle was. Why did he _know_ so much?

“What about my sister?” Maggie demanded coldly as she got up from the bench and turned to face this weird visitor. Drunkenness was completely forgotten as adrenaline flooded Alex’s body.

She hoped that Alex and Kara patched things up between the last time she’d been in Alex’s body to now. Otherwise, her acting performance was going to be very suspicious.

The man stood up with her, though. Completely unperturbed about how much he was freaking Maggie out. He nodded and even _smiled_ at her. It didn’t seem to be a cruel smile, but nonetheless, Maggie was not liking anything about this.

“It’s hard, isn’t it?” He asked her in a near whisper. “Someone comes into your life with these extraordinary powers. And… you feel like you can never measure up.”

He knew. He _knew._ But Maggie couldn’t afford to react. Not yet. Not until she figured out what he was planning to do with all this information. Part of her feared that he was going to try to blackmail Alex.

“Like there is nothing special about _you._ But you are special, Alex.”

What?

Maggie felt like she was on a rollercoaster of emotions. Stalker, blackmailer, weird pep-talk giver in the middle of jail guy… she had _no idea_ how this was going to end up.

She opted to continue staring him down.

“And you can’t afford to throw you life down the drain. You owe _that_ to yourself,” he paused. The smile gone from his face now as he stared sternly right back at Maggie. “And your father.”

_What?_

What was going on? _Who_ was this guy? Why did he seemingly know how to push every button Alex would be vulnerable to? Was he actually looking out for Alex, or was he just trying to _appear_ that way? Maggie didn’t trust him. Granted, she did trust hardly anyone. But this? This was taking the cake for most klaxon alarms going off in one night.

“Who are you?” Maggie asked quietly.

“My name is Hank Henshaw. I work for a government organization dedicated to defending this planet. And we need you, Alex. We need you to be the person _I know_ you can be.”

Maggie rubbed at her— _Alex’s_ face. Okay. Alright. So, he was in it to recruit Alex to a secret, shadow organization. Allegedly. After _spying on her._

“And she’s just supposed to believe you?” Maggie demanded. “After you’ve come in here, told her you knew about her sister—not to mention everything else about her life—and then tried to butter her up? Come on. You’ve got to give me more than that.”

She crossed her arms in front of her stubbornly.

Henshaw’s eyes narrowed as he took in Maggie’s words. And then in face cleared.

“Of course. The soulmate,” he rubbed at his temples. “I should have seen this.”

“You got some kind of soulmate scanner in that secret organization thing you have going on?” Maggie demanded.

Henshaw shook his head, a bemused smile on his face now. “You’re very protective of her. May I know who I’m _actually_ speaking to?”

This guy already knew way too much about Alex’s life than she liked.

“Sawyer,” she told him flatly.

How many Sawyers were there in this country? Plenty, Maggie would bet, so it would give Henshaw practically nothing to work with.

“Well, I assure you, Sawyer, that I’m hardly looking to kidnap Alex into a state conspiracy,” Henshaw chuckled.

Maggie raised her eyebrows and waved her hand in a small circle. “Uh-huh. And I can take your word on that because…?”

“Because I worked with her father. Considering how human soulmates work, it’s hardly going to be a security risk telling you any of this. You clearly already knew about Alex’s sister. Jeremiah Danvers saved my life. And in return, I promised him that I would look after his daughters. I’ve watched over them ever since. I don’t go out of my way to interfere in their lives unless it’s dire. And,” he gestured at the jail walls around them, “I would say that this fits the criteria.”

Alright, so Alex wasn’t doing _great._ But Maggie was still dubious about what this man could do for her. She didn’t want to _make_ a decision for Alex, but she could at least vet this guy for her.

“Right. And what’s your grand plan here?” She continued her interrogation. “What’s Alex going to get out of this?”

Henshaw shrugged his hands in front him his chest. “Well, for starters, I can make her DUI disappear. In return, she’s going to be going through one hell of a training regimen. I can help her finish her degree. Give her a purpose _she_ can work towards that doesn’t involve being trapped under her sister’s shadow. And give her some much needed discipline. I don’t just hand things to people, Sawyer. Alex is going to work for this. But I think she’d going to end up a much stronger person for it.”

DUI.

Maggie sighed. Well, looks like Alex had _really_ stepped into it here. Maggie didn’t know the state of Alex’s drinking habits, but she feared that this was going to be the beginning of a problem if nothing was done to help her. Alex would need to _want_ the help, but if this man could be true to his word, then _maybe_ he really could help Alex. More than Maggie would be able to, at any rate. The last Switch had proved that just talking to people didn’t always get something changed.

She supposed some problems went deeper than a simple conversation could fix. And perhaps this was one of them. And then... there was one thing that wasn’t adding up.

“I thought Jeremiah died in a plane crash,” Maggie said suspiciously.

Henshaw let out a long breath. “He didn’t. He died in the line of duty by giving up his life for mine. I owe him this. He wouldn’t have liked to see Alex struggle this much.”

“Wait… you’re the secret police Eliza was so freaked out about!” Maggie _just_ barely remembered that they weren’t actually alone here and kept her exclamation to a harsh whisper. “That’s _beyond_ the pale. How did you find out about Kara? Were you watching the Danvers family this whole time? Get a drop on the fact that they had an alien kid? Is that why Jeremiah worked for you in the first place? And now you want _Alex_ to sign up? Haven’t you had enough? Haven’t _they_ had enough?” Maggie demanded through gritted teeth.

“Or perhaps this was the _only_ way to keep Kara Danvers safe,” Henshaw responded calmly. “Me and my organization are not the only dangers she and her family need to worry about. In fact, we’re probably the best case scenario in terms of government organizations that could have found out about her.”

Maggie scoffed. “So you were doing them a _favor?_ Yeah, how much money do you want for that bridge again?”

“Do you have any idea what the Army would have done with that young girl, Sawyer? I can guarantee you that they would have seen her as a weapon. Recruiting Jeremiah was the only way we could keep them all safe. By warning them that Kara was far too exposed, and by helping me make certain pieces of evidence about strange, alien sightings near Midvale just… disappear.”

“And what about Alex? Is she going to get killed in the ‘line of duty’ too? You’re going to take another family member from them. Explain to me how that’s something you don’t find reprehensible.”

“Alex is someone who needs something to believe in. Something to fight for. Right now, she believes she has nothing. And we can see the results of that all around us. She can help me protect the public from an increasing alien threat. She can help me protect her sister. If nothing else, she is the _one_ person that Alex is still firmly devoted to fighting for.” Henshaw stared at Maggie seriously. “I understand that you feel protective over her. I’m glad that Alex has that. But, I am not looking to just blindly save her from her own decisions. I want to _guide_ her onto a different path. One she can work for and be proud of. Ultimately, this is Alex’s decision.”

Right. Maggie was just visiting. But, damn if she didn’t want to learn more about this guy. She _wanted_ to like the idea of him helping Alex out of this mess. Help her find a way out of the dark and back to a life that she deserved. But… she just didn’t trust his methods. He was basically asking her to become a secret agent. What would that mean for her life? Could she tell her sister and mother? Probably not.

Maggie liked the idea of working transparently. She didn’t want to be one of those cops who just used the system to obscure her actions and oppress the people she should have been serving instead. The very idea of a secret organization just… went against everything Maggie stood for. How did they hold themselves accountable?

Maggie couldn’t make this choice. Alex was going to get back to her body, Henshaw was probably going to deliver another heartwarming speech, and Alex might just think about this differently than Maggie. There was just no way to know.

“You better keep her well-being in mind,” Maggie threatened. “I don’t want to come back here to Alex _still_ unhappy about how the people in her life are mistreating her. If her father really saved your life, then _you_ owe it to him to keep her safe.”

“She’s going to be the best agent I’ve ever trained,” Henshaw said gravely.

Maggie would believe it when she saw it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was not nearly as draining as the other two. Alex does have some internally pessimistic thoughts that I have dealt with in my life, but other than that, very little of my personal baggage found its way in here. Alex, for her part, is stuck in a rut. I think seeing what Maggie has been able to carve out for herself on her own merits will help her a little bit. Her life is far from over, she just needs to get a grip on her negative, self-destructing thoughts, and direct her pain into something far more positive. Easier said than done, but that is why J'onn's help was so successful. And then there's her internal homophobia. Poor Alex is only growing older, and her denial about her sexuality is only growing worse. Each time she Switches, she has to remember all over again that she's been ignoring a huge part of herself. It's a mindfuck each and every time.
> 
> Maggie... I don't think every single relationship she's ever had was terrible. Emily is probably a good example of that. I disagree with those who write Emily as a raging asshole. There's little to no evidence that was the case. Maggie is the one who fucked up there, and I think it does a disservice to her guilt and pain to suggest that Maggie was in any way justified for her cheating by making Emily seem like a monster. Sometimes, we make terrible, terrible mistakes. Ones that affect the people we should care about, or those who had nothing to do with the choices we've made. Maggie's cheating is such a mistake. Emily seemed like a very pleasant person, and while she ghosted Alex and Maggie at first, I think she was plenty justified to do so. As the cheater, Maggie's closure was in no way the priority. Emily's was. Emily was extremely gracious to give Maggie the time of day after she cheated on her. Maggie's not a terrible person for this, at least she wasn't in the present canon. She did some significant growing, and probably became a very different person than she had been. There is no reason to make Maggie seem like a better person than she was by trying to mitigate her actions by vilifying Emily. If anything, I object on these storylines for the sheer fact that they imply that cheating is ever justified at all. "If your partner isn't nice to you, it's okay to sleep with someone else," is the message that some fics inadvertently convey. And I think that is a mistake.
> 
> But that's a different rant. I'll get back to the girlfriend thing. I don't think every single relationship Maggie had was terrible. But enough were to affect her self-esteem in some way by the time canon rolls around. This would make sense with Maggie's past. She has no emotional support system to speak of. Every person in her life before she would have started dating were not great towards her. This gives her a warped perception of how family and close relationships are supposed to work. Hence why Nat is a raging bitch in this chapter. And emotionally manipulative to boot. Really, Alex ended up actually helping Maggie in this Switch, whether either of them realize that.
> 
> It was fun writing Maggie and J'onn. Like remixing a scene, but into an entirely different perspective. J'onn comes off a little creepy here, which is great. Maggie is not down in the dumps like Alex is. She is not going to look at J'onn's speech as inspiring. She's going to be put out that someone is watching her soulmate and potentially making life even harder for her. Not something that Maggie likes AT ALL lol. J'onn, of course, is J'onn and is only trying his best to look out for Alex. Really, they both care so much about Alex, and are butting heads because of it.
> 
> Next chapter is going to be more Maggie-centric. I have plans for that, and they may or may not be connected to canon....


End file.
